2128 E. 29th St. in Lorain.

LORAIN — The question of whether Lorain school board member Paul Biber actually lives in Lorain has resurfaced.

Biber

Biber came under fire in 2007 from critics who argued that the retired Lorain Schools teacher lived in Sheffield Lake and wasn’t actually living in the apartment he had rented to run for office. Biber said he provided the documentation necessary four years ago to prove he had moved to an apartment in Lorain and was eligible to vote and run for office there.

4709 Lake Road in Sheffield Lake.

Lorain County Board of Elections Director Paul Adams said Thursday that he’s received a new inquiry, but not a formal complaint, questioning Biber’s residency.

Denise Caruloff, the same woman who is challenging whether Lorain Service Director Robert Gilchrist is voting in the propor ward, said she is considering filing a complaint against Biber.

The concern appears to center on records from the Lorain County Auditor’s Office that suggest that Biber’s primary residence is one of two homes he owns in Sheffield Lake. Biber receives a 2.5 percent rollback on the property taxes he pays on the two homes, 4709 Lake Road and 315 Harris Road.

The tax break is supposed to be used only for owner-occupied homes that serve as the homeowner’s primary residence, Chief Deputy Auditor Linda Keys said.

315 Harris Road in Sheffield Lake.

Biber doesn’t receive the tax break on the home he owns at 2128 E. 29th St. in Lorain, where he is registered to vote and which he said he considers his primary residence. The property is valued at $67,600, and Biber pays $1,099.66 in taxes on the property annually. If he had the rollback, he would knock $30.54 off his tax bill each year.

When Biber purchased the East 29th Street home in 2008 for $35,000, the person who prepared the form for him that would have entitled him to the tax break stated that the house wasn’t Biber’s primary residence.

“That’s an error, then, because the whole reason I bought the house was to have a residence in Lorain,” Biber said.

Biber, who declined to discuss how often he stays in the Lorain house, said he never had any intention of doing anything improper when he bought the property.

He also said he didn’t know about the tax issue.

“I felt obligated to own property and pay taxes in a place where I was going to be making decisions about taxes,” he said.

Biber said his wife, Joan Perch-Biber, and children still live at the Lake Road home, which the couple purchased in 1993. The property is valued at $266,500 and the couple pays $5,004.56 annually in taxes on it, according to county records. The rollback saves them from paying an additional $142.98 per year.

The Harris Road house, which is next to the Lake Road property, was purchased at the same time as the Lake Road home and is valued at $263,200. The couple pays $4,942.86 in property taxes each year on what Biber described as a rental property. The tax break saves them $141.22 annually on that property, county records show.

Keys said it’s not uncommon for her office to run across someone getting the rollback on more than one property. At the time the Bibers purchased the property, the question of whether the property was going to be occupied or used as a rental wasn’t typically asked, and the rollback was usually applied whenever a home was sold, particularly if the previous owners had received it.

Keys said she can’t speak to what happened in 1993, but the standard method of dealing with property owners who have been receiving the tax break on more than one property is to send a letter asking them to declare which piece of property is their primary residence, which is where the rollback will be applied.

That’s what will happen with the Bibers, she said.

Anthony Giardini, an elections board member who also serves as an attorney for Lorain Schools, said he doesn’t see an issue with Biber having more than one residence. The one that counts, he said, is the Lorain house because that’s where Biber has declared he will live and vote.

That’s enough, Giardini said, to make the Lorain house Biber’s primary residence.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — The man allegedly punched by an Elyria police officer earlier this year while handcuffed to a hospital bed was sentenced Thursday to probation and the six months of jail time he’s already served for the crimes that led up to his arrest.

Johnny Smith Jr. appears Thursday in court, where he was sentenced to probation. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

Johnny Smith Jr., 43, apologized for his actions in court and asked Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery to include alcohol treatment in his sentence for the failure to comply, obstructing official business and DUI charges he pleaded guilty to in April.

“I realize I put a lot of innocent lives in jeopardy by being drunk that night,” Smith said.

According to Elyria police, a highly intoxicated Smith had to be pulled from the cab of the semi truck he was driving on Jan. 27 after he nearly ran down an officer trying to stop the truck, which was suspected of being involved in a theft from the Apples grocery store on Cleveland Street.

Another man, Jeff Marcum, had gone inside the store and wheeled out a cart full of steaks and beer that he loaded into the semi cab. Smith drove off, and police tracked the truck to a nearby parking lot where officers first tried to stop it.

Smith has said he never saw Officer James Rider, whom police said he nearly struck with the semi. Police surrounded the truck on Cleveland Street and ordered the two men to get out. Marcum fell down while getting out of the truck, but according to police, Smith refused to get out and locked his arms around the steering wheel.

Officers forced a struggling Smith out of the vehicle and continued to wrestle with him until he was under control, according to police reports and witness statements. Smith contends he cooperated with police and officers attacked him without provocation.

Those allegations, including that Rider struck him twice in the head with a flashlight and that officers held him down and beat him, were determined to be unfounded by an internal police investigation and Special Prosecutor John Reulbach Jr., who conducted his own review.

Smith was injured during the scuffle and taken to EMH Medical Center in Elyria, where he was handcuffed to a hospital bed while being treated.

Medical staff on duty told police that Smith, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.355, was cooperative with them, but the officers who brought Smith in and Smith himself were hostile to each other.

Things grew even more hostile when Smith made a comment about how he wished other officers had been gunned down on March 15, 2010, when Elyria police Officer James Kerstetter was shot and killed by Ronald Palmer while responding to a call on 18th Street.

Officers Jay Loesch and Donald Moss shot and killed Palmer when he refused orders to surrender.

Loesch was among the officers at the hospital who heard Smith’s comment, and he and Officer Richard Walker shut the door of Smith’s hospital room. According to a nurse who witnessed what happened next on a monitor connected to a video camera in the room, Loesch struck Smith once in the face.

Walker later described the blow as something that wouldn’t have hurt his 10-year-old, but Smith has said the punch nearly knocked him unconscious.

Smith later apologized for the comment, while Loesch was given a 10-day suspension after an internal investigation was complete. Five days of the suspension won’t be have to be served as long as Loesch doesn’t get into any more trouble for the next year.

Smith and his lawyer, Joseph Triscaro, asked for a criminal investigation into the incident at the hospital and Reulbach, the Avon Lake prosecutor, was brought in to handle the case.

Loesch, who remains an Elyria police officer, was ultimately charged with misdemeanor assault. He has pleaded not guilty, and a visiting judge has been brought in to handle the case in Elyria Municipal Court.

Smith and Triscaro also had discussed suing the city over the incident, but Triscaro declined to comment on any civil action following Thursday’s hearing. Elyria Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling did not return calls seeking comment.

In a separate hearing in Elyria Municipal Court on Thursday, Marcum pleaded no contest to theft.

He was sentenced to pay a $50 fine and will have to pick up litter as part of community service, attorney Michael Stepanik said.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — After seven seasons of struggling against the Cleveland Indians, Ervin Santana’s first win at Progressive Field was one for the record books.

Angels starting pitcher Ervin Santana (54) celebrates with his teammates after pitching a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians Wednesday in Cleveland. (AP photo.)

Santana threw the ninth no-hitter in Los Angeles Angels history Wednesday, striking out 10 in a 3-1 win over the Indians.

“I was able to throw everything today,” Santana said. “My fastball, my curve, even my change-up. I was able to locate all of my pitches.”

The 28-year-old right-hander retired 22 hitters in a row after Ezequiel Carrera led off the game by reaching base on an error by Los Angeles shortstop Erick Aybar.

“What Ervin did today was special,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, a former big league catcher who caught no-hitters by Fernando Valenzuela and Kevin Gross as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1980s. “You have to appreciate it even more because he was pitching under pressure in a tight ball game. He had command of his fastball and his breaking ball got sharper as the game went on.

“Every no-hitter is different, but the feeling is the same. There is that special excitement.”

Santana, who is now 6-8 in 2011 and has a career record of 82-64, said he didn’t really start thinking about a no-hitter until the seventh or eighth inning. But he won’t soon forget the feeling when he saw Los Angeles centerfielder Peter Bourjos snag the final out, a fly ball off the bat of Michael Brantley.

“Excitement,” Santana said. “I was proud of our performance today.”

It was the first no-hitter by an Angels pitcher since Mark Langston and Mike Witt combined to no-hit Seattle on April 11, 1990. The last individual no-hitter tossed by an Angels pitcher occurred on the final day of the 1984 season when Mike Witt pitched the only perfect game in franchise history, defeating Texas 1-0.

Wednesday also marked the first time a no-hitter was thrown at Progressive Field since its opening in 1994. The last time Cleveland was no-hit was Sept. 4, 1993, when the New York Yankees’ Jim Abbott held the Tribe hitless at Yankee Stadium.

As special as the day was for Santana, his catcher Bobby Wilson was just as excited about being part of history.

“This is what we all (as catchers) work for every day of our careers to be part of this,” said Wilson, who also caught a no-hitter in Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats. “All of the time we spend in spring training getting to know the pitchers, this is what it’s all about.”

Santana is 3-0 in the month of July after going 0-4 in June, but Scioscia said Santana has pitched better then his record would indicate.

However, Santana had never previously had success against the Tribe, coming into the game with a career mark of 0-6 with a 4.98 ERA. He made his major league debut at Progressive Field on May 17, 2005, allowing six runs in four innings.

“Ervin has matured as a pitcher since that first start,” Scioscia said. “The biggest difference is his command. Back then he was throwing the ball over the heart of the plate, now he has command of the plate.”

That command was evident Wednesday as Santana threw 76 of his 105 pitches for strikes. He only allowed one walk, to Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall in the eighth inning.

Angels right fielder Torii Hunter said he saw something special Wednesday as he watched Santana work.

“I’ve seen him pitch a lot, he has thrown a lot of good games,” Hunter said. “But this was the best stuff he’s ever had.”

Santana has the distinction of being the first pitcher to toss a non-shutout no-hitter since Houston’s Darryl Kyle in 1993 against the New York Mets. The Indians scored their run in the first inning when Carrera scored on a wild pitch.

Cleveland only hit four balls out of the infield against Santana.

The closest the Indians got to a base hit was in the sixth inning when Jason Kipnis led off the inning with a hard grounder that Los Angeles second baseman Howie Kendrick dove to stop. Kendrick’s throw to Mark Trumbo at first just beat Kipnis.

Santana gave much of the credit for the no-hitter to Wilson.

“Me and Bobby were on the same page,” Santana said. “I just kept my mind on Bobby’s glove and focused in.”

It was the third no-hitter in the American League this season. Minnesota’s Francisco Liriano and Detroit’s Justin Verlander each threw no-hitters in a five-day span in early May.

Santana has the chance to join a more elite group in his next start. In 1938, Johnny Vander Meer became the only pitcher in MLB history to throw back-to-back no-hitters, when, as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, he no-hit the Boston Bees and the Brooklyn Dodgers in consecutive starts.

Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — Built in 1894, the Washington Building of Elyria High School is a three-story Romanesque architecture-inspired classic that fell into disrepair over the years and needed more than just a touch up to bring it back to glory.

A construction worker puts up walls on an arch that is being made with some of the pieces from an old Elyria High building. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

But that rejuvenation is well under way, and district officials hope it will become the crown jewel of the district’s $70 million construction project of a new Elyria High School.

Click here to view more photos.

It was not easy to design and build a new school around a 117-year-old building that residents fought to have listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, but it was important, said Elyria Superintendent Paul Rigda.

“Very early on in the project, before any of this was ever done, we had an idea that included tearing down all of the old buildings and building new,” Rigda said while standing in the school’s under-construction cafeteria. “But as soon as we presented it to the community, the response was overwhelming. There were a lot of people who said, ‘Not this building. It has too much history.’ ”

So Rigda gave the architect team an edict: Make the Washington Building both stand out and blend in.

Residents can check out the exterior details of the newly built portions of the school to see whether the concept worked.

The three tall, staggered windows in the peaks of the dormers pay homage to the three sets of three windows, one at the top of the Washington Building tower, and two at the top of the facade next to the tower.

The window arches in the new building’s dormers echo the arch at the entranceway to the Washington Building. And the rough-hewn limestone nearly matches the sandstone in the Washington Building.

“This is a special place,” said Zora Kovanovic of the Architectural Vision Group of Westlake, which specializes in designing school buildings and designed the new Elyria High. “That is why we wanted to keep a symbol of it around the entire campus. It shows in the colors, textures and finishes.”

Richard Nielson, the district’s business services director, jumped into the conversation and pointed out a block on the exterior of the gymnasium wall that is larger than the other bricks.
“Normally you don’t have cornerstones in new buildings, but we had one in the Washington Building so we have one here,” he said.

On the inside

An interior tour of the building will have to wait.

Earlier this month, school officials announced that the building’s construction timetable was behind schedule and portions of the building would not be ready for the Sept. 6 start of school.

The gym isn’t done. When school resumes, the cafeteria will be a dining-only facility because the kitchen isn’t completed. Gym classes will be postponed until at least the second quarter. And volleyball games once again will be played at the Administration Building on Griswold Road.

But a peek inside shows the second and third floors of the renovated Washington Building are nearly complete and set to open on time. The space will add 17 classrooms to the building. In addition, the first-floor rathskellar — a sort of student union for seniors that will be more of a meeting place than cafeteria — is set to open when classes resume. Located in the Washington Building, the space transforms what used to be useless catacombs into a college-like lounge for older students.

The dining hall is another example of the influence of the century-old building and the work that went into preserving it. The grand room, which will have a color scheme to match school colors, faces the exposed west wall of the Washington Building and the sandstone wall was built with hand-chiseled blocks to match the sandstone on the old building.

The masons who did that work also dismantled the archway of the old technical building piece-by-piece and reassembled it like a giant jigsaw puzzle to form one of the new main entrances, said Terry Tesmer, vice president of Regency Construction, the managing contracting company on the project.

The unified look is certainly not what former students saw with the old high school, whose hodgepodge of buildings was a sort of retrospective on the history of school architecture from 1894, when the Washington Building was finished, to 1955, when the auditorium and gymnasium were finished. All but the Washington Building have been demolished.

“It has been great working on this project,” Kovanovic said. “Where we had to put in new terrazzo flooring, we matched it to the existing terrazzo with the same colors and chips. We did about eight difference mixtures until we got the right recipe.”

Even the furniture that will grace the Washington Building is old meets new.

Students will not have slate tablets and inkwells reminiscent of 1894, said Rigda, but they will learn among some funky wood and metal retro pieces with a contemporary feel.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.