The Courier Local News

Collette: I will keep Findlay City Council seat

Fri, 18 May 2012 19:13:31 GMT

K.C. Collette said he’ll continue serving as Findlay’s 3rd ward councilman, despite a planned July retirement as assistant Hancock County prosecutor following public revelation of past legal infractions in Florida.

“As long as I’m a resident, I feel I can be affective” on council, he said this afternoon.

He also provided a statement offering his explanation of two arrests in the 1990s during prostitution stings conducted in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Collette, who is serving his seventh council term, was charged each time with a misdemeanor count for soliciting a prostitute. This portion of Collette’s past resurfaced when he applied this past winter for a city attorney position in Vero Beach, Fla.

Seeking to present “the facts” of his arrests and legal ramifications, Collette denied having ever solicited prostitutes and said he was never convicted of the initial charges.

Reporter Joy Brown will have more in Saturday’s Courier.

Coroner's report: No intoxicants involved in I-75 wrong-way crash

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:34:32 GMT

BOWLING GREEN — The woman who struck and killed three college students while driving the wrong way on Interstate 75 had no intoxicants in her system, according to a coroner’s report.

Winifred Lein, 69, of Perrysburg, drove south on I-75 northbound near Ohio 582 at 2:17 a.m. March 2 when she fatally struck a vehicle of Bowling Green State University students.

Test results showed Lein had no drugs of abuse or alcohol in her at the time, according to the Wood County Coroner’s Office.

Christina M. Goyett, 21, of Bay City, Mich., and Sarah J. Hammond, 21, of Yellow Springs, were pronounced dead on scene. Rebekah M. Blakkolb, 20, of Aurora, died at the University of Toledo Medical Center from injuries sustained in the crash.

All three tested negative for alcohol or drugs of abuse.

An investigation into where Lein entered the interstate incorrectly revealed no information.

Fostoria man remains in serious condition after Thursday accident

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:34:06 GMT

BASCOM — A Fostoria man remains in serious condition today at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, Toledo, after an accident Thursday.

Nathan E. Zickefoose, 19, of 90 N. U.S. 23, was taken to Toledo by LifeFlight with “incapacitating injuries,” according to the Review Times, Fostoria.

He was taken to Mercy Hospital, Tiffin, by Bascom Emergency Medical Service after the 1:15 a.m. accident on Seneca County 18 in Hopewell Township.

According to a report from the Fremont Post of the State Highway Patrol, Zickefoose, who was not wearing a seat belt, was driving a 1990 Dodge Ram truck, apparently without the owner’s permission. He was headed east on Seneca County Road 18 shortly after 1 a.m. when he took his eyes off the road, according to the report. He drove onto the right shoulder, back across both lanes, off the left side of the road, into a ditch and through a field where the vehicle hit a tree and caught fire.

According to reports, an unidentified 911 caller who lives in the area extinguished the fire around the the truck, with Zickefoose inside.

No citations have been issued, but alcohol was suspected, according to the report.

The incident remains under investigation.

Less than an hour after the crash, another caller, also unidentified, reported to the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office that Zickefoose had been staying with her and took her vehicle without permission.

Bascom Joint Fire District and Seneca County Sheriff’s Office personnel also responded to the accident.

Upper Sandusky grocery store closing affects up to 50 employees

Fri, 18 May 2012 13:53:30 GMT

UPPER SANDUSKY — Heritage IGA, Upper Sandusky, which opened last year, will close May 26, a store employee said.

The store was opened June 24 in the same location as a former grocery store, which closed in 2009.

Dave Kelch, owner of Heritage IGA, Tiffin, opened the store at 415 W. Church St., the same location as the former Marty’s IGA grocery, owned by Marty and Kellie Stansbery, which closed after 40 years in business on the city’s northern edge.

The store employs about 40-50 people.

Kelch was unavailable for comment this morning.