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Man finds father on death row
MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) - A man who was adopted as a child and spent the past year researching his ancestry discovered that his biological father is on Ohio's death row for killing a corrections officer and two others in the state's worst prison riot.
Sean Baker, 41, met his father, George Skatzes, 62, for the first time in March at the Mansfield Correctional Institution, where Skatzes is being held while he appeals his death sentence.
Baker, a truck driver who lives in Henderson, Ky., said he was initially disturbed to learn that his father is a convicted murderer but now believes in his innocence.
"Dad's totally different than what people see of him," Baker said. "There's still a lot of good in Dad and people need to see that."
Prosecutors considered Skatzes a leader in the 11-day riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville in 1993, in which nine inmates were killed along with corrections officer Robert Vallandingham.
Skatzes, who was already serving a life sentence for a 1983 aggravated murder conviction, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Vallandingham and to death for the killings of inmates Earl Elder and David Sommers. He also was convicted of kidnapping the three.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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| THURSDAY MAY 1, 2008 |
School district offers rewards
AKRON, Ohio (AP) - A suburban district is offering $100 for tips on children who aren't supposed to be attending the schools because they live outside the district, and it's paying off.
Four people have collected rewards, and Julie Schafer, a school board member in the Copley-Fairlawn district, said others have provided tips but turned down the financial incentive since the deal began in September.
The crackdown was prompted by bus drivers who saw students getting off in front of vacant buildings or parents in cars dropping off students at bus stops.
District officials suspected 100 of its 3,500 students live outside the district.
Since September, 45 such students have left and six others stayed and paid the annual nonresident tuition of $7,614.
The Ohio Department of Education is unaware of any other financial incentive program of its kind in the state, spokesman Scott Blake said Wednesday.
The Copley-Fairlawn district attracts nonresident students because of its "excellent" rating from the state based on proficiency test scores and other factors, assistant Superintendent Brian Poe said. The northeast Ohio district includes Fairlawn, Copley Township and small parts of Akron and Bath Township.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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House lawmakers pass one of toughest caps on payday lending
By STEPHEN MAJORS
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - One of the nation's strictest proposed crackdowns on payday lending cleared the Ohio House Wednesday, backed by Republicans and Democrats who believed the protection of consumers would far outweigh job losses should the industry shut down.
The bill, which passed 68-26, slashes customer charges to a fraction of their current rates and limits borrowers to four short-term loans a year.
The bill was temporarily in jeopardy when Republicans attached a controversial proposal to ban Keno lottery machines but passed after they reconsidered.
The payday lending proposal now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Industry representatives say the proposal's cap of 28 percent annual interest undoubtedly would put payday lenders out of business - a claim acknowledged by many of the lawmakers who supported the proposal.
"The high interest rate is the anchor that takes many Ohioans deeper into the sea of debt," said Rep. Matt Lundy, a Democrat from Elyria.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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| WEDNESDAY APRIL 30, 2008 |
State to help flooded Ohio city
BELLEVUE, Ohio (AP) - Finally, there's some relief for city leaders and homeowners who have been dealing with month-long flooding in a few neighborhoods.
The state will reimburse the city for some of the costs to fight the flooding, and the water is going down.
It has been five weeks since water began coming up through the ground and flooding basements and roads in this northern Ohio town about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland.
A mix of heavy rains and melting snow in recent months left the ground saturated and the water had nowhere to go but up through cracks in the limestone buried beneath the town.
The water has buckled concrete basement floors, cracked foundations and closed several streets and roads, including a busy state highway.
City leaders estimate the flood has cost them about $500,000 so far. That includes damage to streets and sewer lines and the rental of pumps to keep the water from further flooding homes.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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Lawmakers want to close anti-smoking agency
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Lawmakers and the governor on Tuesday decided to try to dissolve a state agency that attempted to prevent $270 million originally budgeted for anti-smoking programs to be used by state officials for a plan to create jobs.
Proposals introduced in the Ohio House and Senate would end the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation and give $40 million of the money in dispute to the Ohio Department of Health to pay the foundation's bills.
The foundation had tried to protect $190 million of the money by giving it to the American Legacy Foundation, a Washington-based anti-smoking group, and has sued the state to get it.
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland said he supports the plan by the Republican-controlled Legislature to put the money in another bill.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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List of past troubles grows for accused Dann aide
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A minor scrape with a neighbor's vehicle was added Tuesday to the list of past acts dogging a top attorney general's aide accused of sexual harassment by two junior staffers.
The vehicle Anthony Gutierrez hit in August was owned by Chris Stout, the father of one of the 26-year-old women who have alleged Gutierrez harassed them with come-ons, crass language and threats while he was chief of the office's general services section. Findings of an investigation into their claims are due out later this week.
Stout and Gutierrez were neighbors when Gutierrez lived at Dublin town house apartment Gutierrez once shared with Attorney General Marc Dann and a third man, Dann's communications director Leo Jennings III.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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