1 RAMON MENA DEALER PHOTOGRAPHER Kathleen A. Kovach, Sheffield Lake recreation director, pleads not guilty to attempted burglary and menacing in Lorain Municipal Court yesterday. Fisherman's best friend Lorain Lake rearrested outside home she gave drugs freaked out," said the boy, who had testified against Kovach before a grand jury. As it turned out, the boy said, Kovach did not have a weapon, but he does not want to have anything to do with the woman who had been a close friend for more than a year. "I looked at it like she was a mom to me, but not anymore," the boy said.
Paysor said Kovach also had told police she thought of herself as a mother figure to the boy, who lives with his father. "She evidently has been the wayward home for many teenagers who have had problems," Paysor said. Yesterday's case was bound over to the county grand jury. On Sept. 4, Kovach was indicted on two counts of corrupting a minor with drugs.
Police said Kovach told them that she had taken the boy to buy marijuana, given him marijuana and smoked it with him. SEE BE RAMON MENA OWENS PLAIN DEALER PHOTOGRAPHER Coco, a Labrador owned by Bernie Smith of Akron, was along for the ride yesterday when its master went fishing. Coco and Smith, owner of Busy Bernie's Charters out of Marina International in Lorain, were shoving off from the Hot Waters Municipal Pier in Lorain. SHEFFIELD B.F. Goodrich Co.
plans to move a distribution center to the village from Brook Park. Village Council voted 4-2 last night to approve plans proposed by Security Capital Industrial Trust for a warehouse along Ohio 301 near the Sheffield Lake border. Goodrich would contract with Security Capital for most of the space in the building, said Vince Sheffield OKs proposal for B.F. Goodrich Valentino, manager of the B.F. Goodrich Avon Lake Chemical Plant about three miles away.
The new warehouse should be completed by spring. Products manufactured in Avon Lake would be stored at the new center until being shipped by truck, Valentino said. He added that less than 1 percent of the material would be considered hazardous. "This is a very positive pro- N. Ridgeville council chief faces DUI charge By HOLLACE SILBIGER one-year suspension of her drivPLAIN DEALER REPORTER er's license, police Capt.
Rick NORTH RIDGEVILLE City Thomas said. Johnson can appeal Council President Roseanne the suspension. Johnson is scheduled to appear in Reached yesterday at work, Mayor's Court tomorrow on 'a Johnson said her attorney had adcharge of driving while under the vised her not to discuss the inciinfluence of alcohol. dent. The attorney, former city According to a police report, Law Director Jeffrey H.
ManJohnson, 42, was arrested about 3 ning, could not be reached. a.m. Sunday after a police officer The police report stated that noticed her car weaving on Lear- Johnson was unsteady on her Nagle Rd. She then made a left feet, her eyes were red and glassy turn onto Chestnut Ridge Rd. and her breath smelled of alcohol.
without stopping for a flashing Johnson told the police officer red light, the report stated. she had been at a reunion. She Johnson, who has no prior told police she got a flat tire and drunken-driving convictions, replaced it with a small "doughfaces a misdemeanor charge, nut" tire, which she said was punishable by a maximum sen- causing her to drive erratically. tence of six months in jail and a Johnson, a Republican, has fine. resented Ward 3 in southeast Johnson refused to take a North Ridgeville for 10 years.
She breath test, which resulted in a is not running for re-election. 4 TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 1.997 1p Shopping center deal is 1 announced By KAREN HENDERSON PLAIN DEALER REPORTER LORAIN- An Avon Lake businessman who has bought nearly $3 million in downtown. Elyria real estate since April has signed an agreement to buy the Meridian Plaza in Lorain. The $1.8 million deal for the downtown shopping center is expected to close on Oct. 31, according to the buyer, Jay Tokar.
Tokar, 38, an accountant who lives in Avon Lake and has a Westlake office, will buy the Meridian Plaza under the name JGT Enterprises Inc. Tokar is president and I chief executive officer of JGT. He describes himself as an owner, lessor and manager of commercial property. Since April, Tokar said, he Has bought downtown Elyria properties at 104 Middle 140 Middie 146 Middle 374 Broad St. and the Premier Bank Building and parking lot at 124 Middle Ave.
The bank was purchased for $2.5 million with a $500,000 down payment, according to county records. Tokar paid $90,000 for the property at 104 Middle Ave. and $140,000 for the property at 140 Middle county records show. No information was available for the other properties. In a statement released yester: day, Tokar said title would transfer on the purchase of the square-foot Meridian Plaza shopping center in Lorain at the end of October.
He did not disclose any particular plans for the shopping center. It's main tenants are an IGA grocery store and a Revco drugstore. Tokar said he had met with many Elyria business owners, the mayor and residents and was excited about the prospects for the city's downtown. "It's incredible to see the enthusiasm everyone feels toward a revitalization of downtown Elyria," Tokar said. "The effort that is being put forth now by these organized groups will soon begin to produce results.
The feeling is contagious and I am willing to do my part to assist these groups in whatever manner I can to make this plan succeed." JGT also owns property in Sheffield, Rocky River, Westlake, Chagrin Falls, Chardon, Chester Township, Lakewood, Cleveland, Parma Heights, Cuyahoga Falls and Massillon, Tokar said. The Meridian Plaza has had a troubled financial history and difficulty keeping tenants. It was built in 1985 by Carl Gumina, who fell behind on his loan payments to EST Bank and the Lorain Community Development Department in 1993. EST, now First EST, foreclosed and bought the shopping center in 1995 at sheriff's auction for $1.4 million, to protect its investment. Al Andrews bought the plaza the same year for $1.1 million.
Andrews said the purchase agreement with Tokar was signed a week ago and that the sale is contingent on Tokar's ability to get financing. He was surprised that Tokar had announced the sale so soon. "That's news to me. He hasn't told me he has the financing yet," Andrews said. SEE Inside 1 Lorain County.
2-B Death 8-B Metro. 3-B Obituaries 9-B Lorain County classified Editorials 10-B Ohio 5-B 11-B Scene 7-B 12-B Marguerite Bowman Marguerite "Peg" Bowman entered the early 1950s, but she is best known large city in Ohio when she was posal," Valentino said. "It doesn't bring negative connotations at all to the neighboring community." Valentino declined to name the company Goodrich now contracts with in Brook Park. In Avon Lake, Goodrich makes polyurethane pellets used to make electrical wiring jackets; acrylic polymers used in paper, tape and paints; and other products. More on Lorain County was Elyria mayor politics at the grass-roots level in as the first woman mayor of a elected mayor of Elyria in 1975.
9-B News by phone Quickline 999-5463 News online www.cleveland.com THE PLAIN DEALER Joe Dirck GOP challenge backfires on all Oh, come on, Roberta Cable of Columbus thought to herself when she saw a 1995 newspaper ad in which the chairman of the Republican National Committee offered $1 million to anyone who could prove the GOP wanted to cut Medicare. "The fact is Republicans are increasing Medicare spending by more than half. I'm Haley Barbour, and I'm so sure of that fact that I'm willing to give you this check for a million dollars if you can prove me wrong," read the copy accompanying a picture of Barbour holding an oversized check. Health care happens to be a subject in which Cable, a retired chief health educator for Columbus hospital with a doctorate in health education and preventive medicine, takes more than a passing interest. She also follows politics pretty closely, and recognizes humbuggery when she sees it.
"I thought, 'What a They were just playing with semantics, talking about an increase in spending," she said this week. "Well, of course overall spending would go up, but I get Medicare and I know my premium has gone up every year and I was getting fewer benefits." It ticked her off enough that she did something a little out of the ordinary for her. She checked the "I don't believe you" box on the ad, clipped it and fired it off to the RNC, along with a cover letter outlining her reasons for disputing the claim. "I said, 'I know you're going to weasel out of this, but I don't believe anything you Well, I probably didn't say I would have used more conservative language." That was that, at least as far as Cable was concerned. She had gotten it off her chest, felt better for it, and didn't give the matter another thought.
As far as the supposed million-dollar prize was concerned, she didn't put any more credence in that than she did in the rest of the ad. "I never expected to collect anything at all," she said. Neither did she expect to end up getting sued, but that's just what happened, as she discovered when she received an ominous envelope from a U.S. District Court in Mississippi, Barbour's home state. "I was in shock," Cable said.
"I was being sued by the Republican National Committee, and all because I said I didn't believe Haley Barbour." Cable, who considers herself "more of an independent than either a Republican or a Democrat," was unaware of the partisan furor the ad was causing. An aide to a Democratic senator had filed a lawsuit claiming the prize, arguing that under the GOP plan to reform Medicare, spending would total $1.4 trillion over seven years, as opposed to $1.7 trillion if the current levels were maintained. The Republicans countersued the aide in Mississippi, for good measure naming, in an obvious attempt to cover their assets, all 75 people who had challenged the ad and who conceivably might have a claim to the prize money. Cable, along with the other defendants, was offered an out. If she would sign a disclaimer promising not to come after the RNC for any money, she would be dropped from the suit.
It was tempting, but she thought it over and finally decided the Republicans could just go straight to well, she undoubtedly used more conservative language. "I had no intention of claiming the million dollars, but I didn't see why I should disclaim something I never claimed in the first place," she said. So she is one of 20 remaining defendants in the lawsuit. The legal papers she has been served about 3 inches' worth so far she passes along to a retired lawyer friend who is representing her. He is "very smart," and she is willing to leave it all in his hands.
she has no intention of backing down to Haley Barbour or anyone else. "I'm a stubborn old bird," she said. Messages for Dirck may be left at 999-4818. -r 1 Sheffield official Police find her of boy they say By RICH EXNER PLAIN DEALER REPORTER SHEFFIELD LAKE The city recreation director charged earlier with supplying a 17-yearold boy with marijuana was arrested yesterday after police said she attempted to break into the boy's house. Kathleen A.
Kovach, 42, pleaded not guilty in Lorain Municipal Court to charges of attempted burglary and menacing. She was released on personal. bond but was ordered to have no contact with the boy. Police Detective Gerald Paysor said he was not aware of a motive for the attempted burglary but that Kovach had said after her Sept. 4 arrest that she wanted to talk to the boy.
The boy said Kovach removed a screen and attempted to enter the house through his bedroom window at about 12:30 a.m. His father called police. She was found outside. Police said she arrived there on a mountain bike. "I rolled on the floor because I didn't know whether she had a gun or anything.
I was pretty Lorain chief says City Jail's I time is up the police levy and the rest from the general fund. Earlier this year, the Police Department hired CGA Consultant Services, a South Carolina firm, to determine how the jail is used and what will be needed in the future. Findings showed that only two out of 20 people are still in the City Jail after five days. The city agreed to improve its 32-bed facility as part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit jail inmates filed in 1994. The agreement required Lorain to add cells, hire a nurse, screen for certain illnesses, keep violent and nonviolent prisoners separated and let inmates watch TV.
Many of these requirements have been met, Rivera said. In the lawsuit, Akron lawyer Robert Armbruster said the jail was crowded and its food and medical services deficient. Following the terms outlined in the agreement would bring the jail in line with minimum standards the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has set. The jail was built in 1973 and, although it was designed for 32 inmates, it regularly houses more than 40. By KAREN HENDERSON PLAIN DEALER REPORTER LORAIN The City Jail should be set free, Police Chief Cel Rivera told City Council last night.
"We want to get out of the fulltime jail business. We'd like to run an eight-hour holding facility," he said. The chief's comments were made following proposals consultants presented on the jail. Options include building a 64- full-service facility next to the current jail; and turning the jail into a five-day facility, which would require some renovation and a small addition. A third option, supported by Rivera and the Fraternal Order of Police, would be to close the jail.
It would be replaced with an intake area and holding cells to house prisoners for up to eight hours before they are released or transferred to the County Jail. Operating costs for a fullservice jail would run about $1.3 million a year and would significantly. deplete the levy, Rivera said. The levy generated $2.6 million last year. FOP's Terry Udovich said police officers were also concerned that such a facility would take levy money away from fighting crime.
Lorain resident John A. Sadowski agreed. "We don't need a big jail. Let's make the people of Lorain safe not provide lace curtains and TVs for crooks," he said. Council took no action last night.
The city currently spends about $700,000 a year to operate its jail. Some of the money comes from -7, 64.
