President Barack Obama has just wrapped up a visit to the wind turbine manufacturing and Fab Lab facilities at Lorain County Community College and is expected momentarily at the LCCC fieldhouse for his town hall meeting.

When his entourage arrives, Governor Ted Strickland will welcome attendees, and Governor Ted Strickland will welcome attendees.

LCCC student Jody Jasman will introduce Obama. Hasman, 38, has been an electrician for 14 years and was laid off a year ago. She received tution assistance for dislocated workers to attend LCCC through a partnership with the Employment netWork and is a wind turbine technology major.

As the crowd waited in anticipation of Obama’s arrival, CT Managing Editor Julie Wallace noticed some more faces in the crowd — former Common Pleas Court Judge Joe Cirigliano, former state Rep. John Bender, Elyria Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling and Lorain County Chamber of Commerce Director Frank DeTillio.

Pastor Crucita Marrero, pastor of Mision Cristiana El Faro Discipulos De Cristo (Disciples of Christ) in Lorain, delivered the invocation.

Michael R. Jackson Jr., 37, led the pledge of allegiance. Jackson will graduate in the spring with an associate degree in manufacturing engineering technology from LCCC.

Tobias Duvall, 26, sang the national anthem. Duvall is nearly finished with an associate of arts degree and is also working on associate of business administration degree with a focus on entrepreneurship at LCCC.

Obama just toured the college’s wind turbine manufacturing and Fab Lab facilities.

The first associate degree credit program in Ohio in the field of wind turbine power generation began in the fall at Lorain County Community College, and is funded by federal stimulus money.

During the tour he talked to students about their projects, according to Bob Nemeth of Amherst, a former auto worker, who said he got to shake the president’s hand.

Along the tour there were approximately 33 students — 13 students in the wind turbine production area and 20 students in the Fab Lab. LCCC President Roy Church will lead the wind turbine tour, and Kelly Zelesnik, dean of the Engineering Technologies Division, will lead the Fab Lab tour.

According to CT reporter Brad Dicken, who is riding along with the president’s motorcade, Church missed his bus in the motorcade and had to walk across campus to the fieldhouse.

Security is strict on campus, and those who missed getting into the college and were trying to do so not long before 1 p.m. were out of luck. They weren’t allowed to drive in, nor were they allowed to walk in. So how hefty is the security team? More than anyone can count from the inside, that’s for sure. Tom Kelley, director of Lorain County Emergency Management Agency, helped coordinate the local security efforts to backdrop what’s provided by the Secret Service.

“We knew last Thursday the president was coming,” Kelley said. “It’s a logistical nightmare, but there’s been alot of good cooperation. we’ve met everyday since last Thursday”

The crew includes six or seven agencies on the Emergency Medical Services detail, the Lorain County HAZMAT team, the sheriff’s SWAT team, Lorain Auxiliary police, and a number of other departments, too.

Check back at Chroniclet.com all day long for updates at they become available.

President Barack Obama toured EMC Precision Machining in Elyria, where he met with workers and plant management, and made an unplanned lunch stop at Smitty’s in Elyria.

Obama ordered a burger and fries to eat while he met with Elyria mayor Bill Grace. The president bought a $2.75 bowl of chili for Shawn Hatcher for his 42nd birthday.

The president talked to the crowd about jobs, and talked to Jeff King, an electrician on the Lorain County Transportation Center project, which is funded by federal money.

Obama also talked to several children at the restaurant and joke after a cameraman knocked over a clock that they were destroying the restaurant.

At EMC Obama talked with worker Mitch Seabold of Columbia Station about precision grinding.

“It was great. It was an honor,” Seabold said about meeting the president.

CT reporter Brad Dicken, who is riding along with Obama’s motorcade, said people lined state Route 57 waving to the motorcade as it drove by.

Back at Lorain County Community College people have been lining up for hours to see the president, and the Chronicle staff has cleared security and is scurrying about to bring you updates.

There’s still a nice long line outside of folks waiting to get through security to be on hand for the first presidential visit to Lorain County since Harry Truman’s whistle stop tour.

But the attendance list certainly is a who’s who of Lorain County.

Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko is here, as is Lorain Safety-Service Director Robert Gilchrist. Elyria Safety-Service Director Chris Eichenlaub is here, as his brother, Elyria police’s Andy Eichenlaub, in his capacity as part of the local security team. State Rep. Joe Kozuira also is on hand, as is Probate Judge James Walther. Elyria Councilman Mike Lotko, D-at large, just walked through the doors, too.

Managing Editor Julie Wallace bumped in to Krasienko who expects to have a one-on-one meeting with the president.

Krasienko said the one-0n-one time he’ll spend with the president will involve talking about what works and what doesn’t as far as federal programs. Some, he said, come with too many restrictions that make it difficult for cities.

“A lot of programs have different restraints … sometimes there is the need to let community funds to meet objectives but in a way that will allow the community to get us there more directly,” he said.

CT reporter Cindy Leise reported that there were seven protesters, and none of them were local people.

Leise caught up with two local pastors while they were waiting in line to enter the town hall.

The Rev. Marcettes Cunningham, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Elyria, said he is an Obama supporter.

“I would give him a B+,” Cunningham said. “I like the fact he’s taking a different approach to government. He’s more inclusive than other people in trying to bridge the gap between party lines.”

Cunningham said he thought Obama should spend more time dealing with domestic issues and utilize  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton more on international issues.

The Rev. Curtis Daniel, pastor of Macedonia Church of Christ in God in Elyria, also said he would rate Obama’s performance a B+.

“I like the fact he’s reforming corporate America and is making our financial institutions more accountable,” Daniel said, adding that Obama needs to work harder on creating jobs.

CT reporter Lisa Roberson caught up with Julia Williams of Elyria who was attending the president’s town hall meeting to hear what he had to say about jobs.

Williams, 34, of Elyria, a caseworker for Lorain County Job and Family Services, said her caseload has increased in the past couple years, and the people she’s seeing are those who have lost their jobs and are in need of health care.

Economic recovery was weighing on the mind of Charlotte Bledsoe of LaGrange as well.

Bledsoe, 57, who works in local government, said she has seen cutbacks at her job. She said she is honored Obama is visiting Lorain County and believes he is sincere in his desire to go to the people and hear what they have to say.

Heather Pierce, 19, of Grafton, a student at LCCC, said she is worried about her future job prospects.

Pierce, who is pursuing an associate degree in art, works in the college’s financial aid office and said she has seen a lot of older students who have lost their jobs coming back to school.

Check back at Chroniclet.com all day long for more on the president’s day in Lorain County.

Then candidate Barack Obama speaks Feb. 24, 2008, during a visit to National Gypsum in Lorain. (Photo by Chuck Humel, The Chronicle-Telegram.)

ELYRIA — People have been lining up since 1 this afternoon at the Lorain County Community College Stocker Center box office to get tickets to see President Barack Obama speak Friday, and placeholder tickets are now being handed out.

The placeholder tickets allow ticketholders to leave or roam about freely rather than stand in line. People with placeholder tickets are being told to return at 5:30 to exchange the placeholders for actual tickets.

The actual tickets for President Barack Obama’s Friday town hall meeting at Lorain County Community College are being handed out from 6 to 9 p.m.

Tickets are being made available on a first-come, first-served basis from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the college’s Stocker Center box office, according to the college’s Web site.

There are a limited number of tickets and a limit of two per person.

The event will be held at the LCCC Field House and doors will open at 11 a.m. Those attending must be in the Field House by 1 p.m., the Web site said.

Airport-like security will be in place, and those attending are asked to bring as few personal items as possible. Bags, sharp objects, umbrella, liquids, strollers and signs will be barred from the event, the Web site said.

Cameras will be allowed inside.

The White House has said Obama will spend the day in the Lorain County area discussing jobs and the economy.

Visit the LCCC Web site for more info on the visit and and map of where to pick up tickets.

Read Wednesday’s Chronicle for more details on Obama’s visit to Lorain County.

At least three men are dead after a plane crash this afternoon at the Lorain County Regional Airport, and rescuers say there’s a possibility there could be a fourth body somewhere in the wreckage, according to Lt. Travis Hughes, commander of the Elyria post of the State Highway Patrol.

According to Hughes, the FAA is en route from Cleveland and has asked the patrol to hold the scene for their arrival.

Listen to scanner audio from the plane crash:

The plane was approaching the airport to land from the west a little after 2 p.m., and there is no word yet what caused it to crash.

According to Flightaware.com, the plane departed from Gainesville Regional Airport in Florida a little after 11 a.m. for a 2 hour and 38 minute flight and was scheduled to arrive at the Lorain County Regional Airport a little after 1:30 p.m.

“All we know is it’s a really horrible crash,” de la Porte said.

Listen to an interview with neighbor Bob Tallhamer, who saw the plane coming in:

He described the plane as a “fairly big” propeller plane.

According to info from the Federal Aviation Administration database, the plane, which was manufactured in 2002, is a Mitsubishi fixed wing multi-engine turbo-prop and is owned by Mitts Corp. from Gainesville.

Also on scene are Tom Kelley of Lorain County Emergency Management, Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus and the Oberlin Fire Department.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.

Photo by Bruce Bishop, The Chronicle-Telegram.