Top local news stories of 2022

Some news was tragic, other news was joyous. In either case, 2022 was a year of impactful happenings in our region of Ohio. Here is our list of the most notable and noteworthy local news stories from last year, listed in no particular order: • Interstate 80 crash A massive crash on the Ohio Turnpike in Erie and Sandusky counties during severe winter weather involved dozens of vehicles and claimed the lives of four motorists. The Dec. 23 crash involved more than 40 vehicles and resulted in the deaths of Bernard M. Bloniarz, 59, of Napoleon, Ohio; Julie E. Roth, 37, of Toledo; and Emma L. Smith, 19, of Webberville, Michigan. Roth, originally of Berlin Heights, was also pregnant and her unborn child did not survive. The wreck occurred during Winter Storm Elliot, which made roads nearly impassable and caused widespread power outages. • Columbus Avenue train derailment Nobody was injured when 20 cars out of a 101-car Norfolk Southern freight train derailed at the Columbus Avenue underpass in Sandusky on Oct. 8. Several tanker cars crashed off of the overpass onto the roadway below, all spilling non-hazardous paraffin wax. The cause of the crash has yet to be announced. The Columbus Avenue underpass has been closed to vehicles and pedestrian traffic since the crash due to damage caused by the derailment. As of early January, there has been no word on when repairs would be completed and when the road would reopen. • Developments at Cedar Point Cedar Point had a year of many changes. After months of speculation, the park announced it was retiring popular roller coaster Top Thrill Dragster and that they were drawing up a reimagined ride experience. The ride had been closed since August 2021, when a metal piece fell of the ride and struck a woman, causing serious injury. Then, just days ago, the park released a video teasing a reopening of a reimagined Top Thrill Dragster in 2024. Major changes also came to policing inside park boundaries. Park officials and the city of Sandusky reached a deal that will have Sandusky police take over policing responsibilities in the park starting with the 2023 season. Cedar Point also announced a new ride for the 2023 season — a Zamperla Wild Mouse roller coaster — a new Grand Pavilion complex and a new themed area called The Boardwalk. • Local man wins $1 million Jan Graves, of Norwalk, won $1 million in the Oct. 31 Powerball drawing. He said he will donate a portion of his winnings to a scholarship fund that's set up in his daughter's name at Bowling Green. Graves purchased the ticket at the Norwalk Mickey Mart No. 20. He hit all five numbers but did not match the Powerball. • Paul Brown statue, new Huron County Fairgrounds structure Norwalk and Huron County will see two great new additions in 2023 with the groundwork being laid in 2022. For the first time in the city's 200-year history, a statue is coming to town. The local committee working to honor native son and legendary football coach Paul Brown has raised $45,400 and has sent the initial $25,000 payment to the Pennsylvania firm that will cast the bronze statue. The life-sized likeness of Brown has been approved by his son, Mike Brown, owner of the Cincinnati Bengals and his family, according to Mayor Dave Light. "They're all on board with it, which is great," Light said. The Huron County Fairgrounds will see a new building in 2024. The hope is it will be more than just a barn, but a building everybody can use 365 days a year. After the 2021 COVID-19-related death of lifelong Huron County farmer and cattleman John Feichtner, his grandsons, Owen and Nash — themselves frequent livestock exhibitors — began a funding campaign to build the new barn in John's memory. Tragically, in the fall of 2021, John's wife, Donna, died, as did Owen in a car crash later the same day. Interested parties, family members and friends throughout the Huron County community rallied to continue the building effort. The Feichtner Memorial Charitable Fund Committee is working with the Huron County commissioners. The current plan is to replace the current swine, rabbit and poultry barns with a concrete floor and foundation, exposed three feet above grade; blanket insulation in the ceiling and walls; public restrooms; and a sprinkler system. The current estimated cost is $2.4 million without site work. The current estimated cost with site work and inside wash rack is $2.7 million. It is hoped the new building will be ready for the 2024 Huron County Fair. • Problems in Put-in-Bay It was an anonymous letter from an island resident that launched a series of stories about the Put-in-Bay police department in 2022. In the letter, the man who wrote it complained about a strip club on the island that he alleged was operating after hours and was possibly involved in prostitution and other illegal activities. The letter was addressed to the Ohio Attorney General, to the Ottawa County sheriff and to a federal sex trafficking task force, among other agencies. "We sent a public records request to each one of the agencies the letter was written to and asked what action was taken in response to it," Register executive editor Matt Westerhold said. "A few of the agencies said it was forwarded on to the police department, which didn't make much sense because the letter suggested the police department was incapable of handling the complaint." But one agency — the state crime lab Bureau of Criminal investigation under the attorney general authority — responded by providing an investigative report that included about 150 pages of records. "The report was a whole lot of nothing. It said there was an investigation but there was little evidence reviewed or collected," Westerhold said. "The state agents walked away after eight months without finding anything wrong, or filing any charges." A multi-part series, "Life on a Rock, investigating allegations of sex trafficking, police corruption, drug dealing and money laundering," was published in Weekender editions of the Register from August through October. The series detailed what was in the report about what state agents did in trying to verify allegations that. That included allegations that an island resident attempted to bribe the police chief and later someone allegedly made a threat on the chief's life, according to the state report. But there wasn't any documentation to support those claims. If there had been an attempt to bribe the chief, or threats made against him, nothing was documented in real time to substantiate those claims, according to the state report. The series also detailed other instances in which reports of criminal complaints were never written, surveillance video was never secured, charges were never filed and explanations were never provided. The series also led to a number of reliable sources coming forward and sharing information that was troubling, including two reports alleging sexual misconduct by police officers, a report that an officer assaulted a handcuffed woman and other troubling information. One sourced story that developed was about a woman who allegedly attempted suicide — twice — while in police custody. It took the Register three months to obtain the public record that verified the information. In that instance, again, there appears to have been no effort to correct the operational dysfunction that was occurring. In mid-November, the township opted out of an agreement with the village police department for law enforcement services and instead contracted with the Ottawa County sheriff's office. The new contract for the township with the sheriff's office went into effect on Jan. 1, but Sheriff Steve Levorchick has refused to say what structure he's implemented for deputies to be on the island in the township, and the village police department faces a substantial budget cut — 40% — to its annual operating budget. Village Mayor Jessica Dress has provided no information about how the police department — which appears to be underperforming below basic professional standards already and for many years — will be funded when tourists start returning to Put-in-Bay in the spring. Dress and Police Chief James Kimble have not responded in months to questions and concerns about the safety of visitors to the island. Levorchick and village law director Susan Anderson have not responded to most of the questions they have been asked about the situation. Source information proved to be accurate but instances of alleged misconduct weren't fully investigated or properly documented and it's unclear if anything was ever done to correct the behavior. • Corrections officer indicted in inmate death A Richland County corrections officer was indicted this year after a series of articles detailed how a Huron County man died after officers kneeled on his back, struck him and electro-shocked him while prone on the ground following a brief chase. About six weeks after the Register published a two-part series, "Jailhouse death not forgotten," a grand jury indicted a Richland County jail guard, charging him with reckless homicide and manslaughter in the 2019 death of jail inmate and Wakeman native Alex Rios. The series shed light where light had faded onto the terrible circumstances in which Alex Rios died. His official autopsy report states he died of "excited delirium," a death ruling not accepted by the American Medical Association. To date, the coroners who made that ruling have not answered questions about how they reached that conclusion, or if they viewed body camera video of the incident. The Richland County sheriff also has not responded to requests for comment. • Rest in peace Chief Donald The community mourned a beloved local law enforcement leader who died unexpectedly last year. Perkins police Chief Vince Donald, a 26-year veteran of the department, died on Sept. 23. He was 48. Large crowds gathered along township roadways on Oct. 6 to watch Donald's funeral procession, a motorcade of more than 100 vehicles which included many police cruisers. • Burn pits bill passed A family with ties to Sandusky helped advocate for new national legislation that should help eliminate roadblocks for veterans' health benefits. Sandusky resident Susan Zeier, her daughter and Sandusky High School graduate Danielle Robinson, and Robinson's young daughter, Brielle, all played a part in supporting the Heath Robinson Promising to Address Comprehensive Toxins (PACT) Act. Heath Robinson, Danielle's husband and Brielle's father, died in 2020 after serving with the U.S. military overseas. His death, at age 39, was caused by a rare form of cancer and was attributed to his exposure to toxic burn pits managed by the nation's military. The trio and others, including a veteran and Huron High School graduate suffering from poor health as a result of his military service, Tim Hauser, were instrumental in advocating for the bill's passage. They camped out on the steps of the U.S. Capitol while Congress members debated the bill. The bill eventually passed in the House and Senate, and was signed into law by President Joe Biden at a White House ceremony attended by Zeier, Danielle and Brielle, who stood on a stage with the president during the signing. • Successful pier concerts Scores of people flocked to the Jackson Street Pier for entertainment this past summer. A summerlong free concert pier series was well attended. The most notable shows included were Rumours, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, Springsteen tribute band Bruce in the USA, Sugarhill Gang and The Drifters. While no 2023 shows have been announced to date, it's believed organizers plan a new series for the new year. Sandusky Recreation, the Lange Trust of the Sandusky Library and Advantage Entertainment were behind the 2022 shows. • Wobser leaves job Sandusky city manager Eric Wobser, credited with helping spearhead the city's continuing renaissance over the past decade, resigned from his role in November. Wobser left his job to become chief of staff for newly elected Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne. Having started his career in Sandusky's city government in 2014, Wobser led many initiatives generally considered to have contributed to the city's benefit, including but not limited to: - Quarterbacking a campaign, titled Issue 8, in 2014; The dual increase for Sandusky's income and admissions tax rates provided much-needed income to carry out necessary services demanded by residents along with providing strategic guidance for future city projects. - Negotiating an unprecedented $100 million agreement with Cedar Fair to fund many city-based public projects, which induce a new recreation center and a new causeway - Putting forward work orders to revamp about a dozen neighborhood parks, which would include new and/or enhanced play areas - Budgeting millions of dollars for a local street resurfacing program; In the past eight years, about 25% of Sandusky's streets have undergone an upgrade. A search process is underway to identify and hire a new city manager. • Sandusky Aquatic Center groundbreaking A city schools project five years in the making began in earnest last summer. Ground broke for the Sandusky Aquatic Center — a project to construct a new pool facility for student and public use — in late June. The roughly $11 million project to replace Sandusky High Schools' six-decade-old pool facility, was first started in 2017. Erie County nonprofit foundations like the Wightman-Wieber Foundation, Dorn Foundation, local businesses and individual donors have pledged financial support toward most of the project's price tag. Construction is projected to finish, and a grand opening hosted, by summer 2024.