Johnson

U.S. Marshals have arrested the Elyria man accused of taking his girlfriend’s 7-year-old son Monday. The child was found safe, but Johnson remained at large.

Gregory Johnson, 42, was arrested today, according to Deputy Tony Keffer, U.S. Marshals Service task force coordinator for Lorain County. Johnson had been named fugitive of the week while he was on the run.

According to Marshals, information was obtained today by the Violent Fugitive Task Force that Johnson was hiding out in Riverside Estates on the west side of Cleveland near West 28th Street. The task force immediately responded to the area and located the car that was used during the kidnapping.

Officers kept surveillance on the vehicle throughout the morning and arrested Johnson after he got in the vehicle about 11:30 a.m.

An Amber Alert was issued for David Bruce early Monday morning after Johnson took him and his girlfriend’s car from their Bell Avenue apartment. Bruce was found a little after 6 a.m. Monday after Johnson left him at the Cleveland Greyhound Station.

“This was great police work by the officers working this investigation, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Roberto Robinson said in a news release. “We are thankful that the child is safe and that this fugitive is now in custody.”

PEORIA, Ariz. — Grady Sizemore is moving closer to making his exhibition debut.

Sizemore

Sizemore, who is working his way back from knee surgery, passed another test in the road to recovery Sunday in Goodyear, running the bases for the first time.

“It went well,” Sizemore said. “I felt good coming into today, so I wasn’t nervous or anything like that. I kind of had an idea how I would feel. I started out slow and was able to push it towards the end and I felt good.

“I was obviously hoping that there wouldn’t be any setbacks or problems and there wasn’t. Overall, it was a good day.”

Sizemore said he ran at 90-95 percent and is scheduled to run the bases two more times, most likely on Tuesday and Thursday. If he clears those hurdles, Sizemore’s exhibition debut could come as early as this weekend.

“There’s not much left that I have to go through. I’m pretty close,” he said. “Before these next two baserunning days are over, I want to push it to the max.

“I want to get out there in the outfield and run as hard as I can on a ball in the gap and see what it’s really like on the bases to stretch it out. That’s the next test here this week is to not hold back.”

Sizemore has been taking things slowly since arriving at training camp. He began by participating in agility drills, throwing in the outfield and hitting in the cages. Last week, he started taking live batting practice.

“Everything’s been real good,” Sizemore said. “It’s been symptom-free, no setbacks. It’s been stiff at times but not sore. It’s just a different feeling. I notice the spot (on the knee). I don’t necessarily have discomfort or pain with it. It’s just getting used to it and pushing through whatever it is you’re feeling.”

Sizemore is in a familiar spot. He arrived at camp last year after having the previous season cut short by an elbow injury that required surgery. He had problems with the elbow throughout spring training before injuring his knee in the final exhibition game and playing in just 33 games during the regular season, when he hit .211 without a home run and 13 RBIs.

“There was still some side effects (with the elbow), just like there are going to be with the knee,” Sizemore said. “I’m just anxious to get out on the field and see how that translates.

“It feels fine. I don’t feel slower. I don’t feel like I’ve lost a step.”

Though manager Manny Acta said it was not a foregone conclusion that Sizemore will miss opening day, the Indians aren’t counting on him in center field April 1 against the White Sox at Progressive Field.

Sizemore isn’t willing to offer a prediction.

“I’m not really looking past that first (exhibition) game and seeing how it feels out there on the field,” Sizemore said.

Donald’s down

An MRI on Saturday revealed that third baseman Jason Donald has a bone bruise in his left hand. He is expected to be sidelined for at least the next three days.

Donald missed five games after being hit on the hand by a pitch against the White Sox. He returned to the lineup Thursday and Friday before being scratched Saturday.

Donald, who is batting .308 (4-for-13) with a double in six games, is still considered the front-runner for the starting job at third.

“Nothing has changed,” Acta said. “We’re going to have plenty of time to run him out there.”

Huff’s stuff

Left-hander David Huff, one of three candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation, was not happy with his effort Sunday in the Indians’ 7-2 loss to the Padres in Peoria.

Huff worked consecutive scoreless innings and entered the seventh with the Indians trailing by a run before imploding. He allowed all of his runs (four) and hits (six) and was removed with two outs.

“I gave up runs and I’m (ticked),” said Huff, who is 1-0 with a 7.45 ERA in four exhibition appearances. “The first two innings, I thought I threw well. I was filling up the strike zone. Then I started rushing stuff. I’m upset. I gave up runs and they look at results here, not how you throw.”

Acta said Huff’s performance did not hurt him in his race with Josh Tomlin and Jeanmar Gomez.

“We don’t go by one outing,” he said.

Roundin’ third

The Indians lost 11-8 to the White Sox in a “B” game in Glendale. Cleveland starter Alex White, the Indians’ first-round draft choice in 2009, allowed three runs on three hits over 2 2/3 innings. Carlos Santana and Cord Phelps hit homers for the Indians, while Lonnie Chisenhall went 3-for-4 with a double.

Today

• Who: Indians vs. A’s
• Time: 4:05 p.m.
• Where: Goodyear Ballpark, Goodyear, Ariz.
• Pitchers: Justin Masterson vs. Dallas Braden
• TV/radio: STO (live); WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM (tape delayed at 7 p.m.)

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — He goes by Bud.

Beyond that, details are a little fuzzy, according to Metro Parks workers.

They first started seeing the gray-bearded gentleman nearly a year ago when he came to use the Bridgeway trail. He walked, they said, and stretched on the trail’s benches.

Then he found a greater calling — clearing trash from not just the trail, but the hillsides that surround it.

More photos below.

“No words can explain” the difference he makes, according to Paul Hruby Jr., operations supervisor and chief ranger. “These are areas we could never get to. We just don’t have the manpower.”

Still, Bud remains quite a mystery.

“Unless you go looking for him, he’s gone,” according to Tim Perkins, a park maintenance worker.

Bud, who the Metro Parks workers estimate is in his late 50s or early 60s, shows up every day, rain or shine about 8 or 8:30 a.m. and works tirelessly for two to three hours. Some of the trash he clears was dumped over the hill by residents in South Lorain, other trash blows from their yards or washes down the river. Bud scales the hills and goes places court-ordered community service workers refuse to go, they said.

“Even a nasty day like today, he was out,” Hruby said.

Bud bags up and carries out what he can, Hruby said. The rest he leaves in bags alongside the trail, where park maintenance workers can easily retrieve it.

And then there’s his pile.

Workers estimate it’s about six feet tall, 10 feet wide and nearly 30 feet long, and it’s stacked neatly with care. It contains everything from about 50 tires, to multiple shopping carts, discarded toys — essentially, all the trash Bud manages to drag out of the woods but can’t haul out of the park.

Around Christmastime, workers started to figure out who Bud was. Hruby said he left his business card on Bud’s car once he figured out what he drove.

“He thought he was in trouble, but I just wanted to thank him,” Hruby said. “I even offered him a job, but he wasn’t interested. He said he was trying to make a difference.”

They think Bud might be a Ford autoworker and might live on or off of Abbe Road.

“He doesn’t want a job, he doesn’t want anything, he’s not looking for recognition,” said Mike Goodrich, Metro Parks captain and ranger specialist. “He just does it because he loves it.”

While park workers make plans to truck Bud’s large pile out of the woods near the trail, they’re just grateful for the unexpected help he provides.

“With trash it’s a constant battle,” Hruby said. “We have to mow the grass and maintain the trash (along the trail). We just don’t have the manpower. We’re blessed to have him.”

“It’s kind of nice to know there are still a few people in the world like that,” Perkins added.

Contact Rona Proudfoot at 329-7124 or rproudfoot@chroniclet.com.

That’s right, it’s paczki time again!

The delicious, delectable pre-Lenten treat has actually been frying up for weeks at bakeries around Lorain County — and especially Kiedrowski’s Simply Delicious Bakery on Cooper-Foster Park Road in Amherst.

Owner Tim Kiedrowski said he and his staff — a mix of employees, friends and family — sold a record 48,000 last year and plan to “at least do that” this year.

He’ll open his doors at 4 a.m. Tuesday and go “till we’re done” Tuesday night. (Last year he was open until 8:30 p.m., he said.)

Paczki — for the lesser informed — are generally enjoyed on Mardis Gras, or the day before Lent. Traditionally, the reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because they were forbidden to be consumed due to Catholic fasting practices during Lent, according to Wikipedia.

Kiedrowski’s offers paczki with four filling options — apricot, rose, poppy seed and prune — as well as plain, which Kiedrowski prefers to call “sugared.” They cost 85 cents each, or $10 a dozen.

Kiedrowski calls it “a family and city tradition.”

He rents a truck specifically to bring in all the extra supplies, he said. Among the supplies, 3,800 pounds of flour, 600 pounds of sugar and more than 17 buckets of 40 pounds each of flavoring, he said.

Still, he admits it’s a challenge.

“Logistically, getting them all done at the right time — it’s hard to believe,” he said.

“This is our Super Bowl,” Kiedrowski said.

The chaos at Kiedrowski’s could pay off, however.

What Kiedrowski calls “one big happy day” will include lines to the end of the plaza at points, according to Kiedrowski.

He said he’ll have line runners to bring out orders for anyone who’s called them in, besides taking fresh sugar paczki to anyone waiting, as well as pop, coffee and possibly something stronger if you know the right person.

“That’s the fun of a mom and pop howntown shop,” Kiedrowski said.

Kiedrowski, who said he’s actually been selling paczki since Feb. 14 this year, plans to continue sales through lent. Paczki sales will make up about 25 percent of his profits for the the year, he said.

“People are hungry for tradition,” Kiedrowski said.