ELYRIA — The body of 13-year-old Logan Spradlin was recovered Sunday in a 30-foot-deep pool under the East Falls of the Black River, where Logan fell after climbing over a guardrail of an observation deck, according to the Elyria Fire Department.

Logan’s body was recovered by a diver 30 to 50 feet from the area near an old mill where he fell over the falls, said Elyria Fire Chief Richard Benton.

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Logan, who lived just around the corner from the Riverwalk on Furnace Street, only had permission to go to a friend’s house and was not supposed to be at the park, according to his stepmother, Sheri Spradlin.

He was remembered Sunday as a happy-go-lucky teen who brought happiness to everyone around him.

“Do you know a kid who smiles and everyone’s heart melts? That was Logan,” Spradlin said.

Students at Northwood Middle School and Elyria High School will be wearing green — Logan’s favorite color — according to text messages circulated by students. Other text messages said, “We all miss and love Logan.”

Benton said the drowning — the first in three years at Cascade Park — is a reminder of how dangerous it is to play by the river.

Logan was with 10-year-old Brennon Miller when Logan reportedly climbed over the guard railing of an observation deck, jumped onto the steps of an old mill, slipped and fell onto rocks before going over the waterfall, the chief said.

Brennon ran to the Elyria police station for help at 2:08 p.m. and it only took about two minutes for rescuers to get to the scene because crews were assembled for a fire station open house, Benton said.

Rescuers started at the point where Logan fell into the river and fanned back and forth, while searching for the boy in the deep, rock-lined area under the falls, he said.

Logan’s friend “gave us a good starting point” but by 7 p.m. Saturday the rescue/recovery effort was called off because of darkness, Benton said.

“It’s a tragic accident and the guys hated to give up Saturday night,” he said.

Benton said he hoped parents — and youngsters — could learn from what was the first drowning in the Black River in three years.

“He was definitely in a place where he shouldn’t have been — the old foundation of the mill,” Benton said.

Divers assembled again Sunday morning and were in the water by 8:20 a.m., Benton said, adding that each diver could only spend 20 to 30 minutes under the surface because of the cold water temperature. Divers from around the county assisted both days and a Lorain diver eventually found the boy, he said.

Bubbles from the turbulent falls likely made it difficult to find the body with a side-scanning sonar device recently purchased by the county fire chiefs, Benton said.

The water is especially deep under the falls because “over the years the waterfall keeps eroding the earth, and it’s down to the rock,” he said.

The cause of death was ruled accidental drowning, said Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus. The teen also had a laceration on his scalp, which could have occurred during the fall or after he was in the river, which is lined with rocks, the coroner said.

Logan knew how to swim, but he could have been injured in the fall and weighted down by tennis shoes, clothing and a jacket, Matus said.

“Generally there are pretty strong currents around the waterfalls,” he said.

Logan’s aunt, Carrie Charlton, said she was glad that Brennon ran for help and did not try to climb down the perilous steps to go after Logan after he fell.

“If he had tried to save Logan, we would have had two victims,” Charlton said.

“I don’t blame anyone; this was a tragic accident,” she said. “Boys like to explore, and how many of us have been down in the same area? We played there and never thought anything would happen.

“Kids are kids and are incapable of making decisions grown-ups do. Part of the wonderment of being a child is not thinking like an adult.”

Logan’s birth mother, Rose Mesecher, of College Station, Texas, said she does not blame anyone in the accident.

“When I got there I knew exactly where it was because I recall playing there,” Mesecher said.

She urged parents to “cherish their children always because you can’t plan for things like this.”

Sheri Spradlin, Logan’s stepmother, said he was an avid eighth-grade wrestler, football player and loved to skateboard and play “World of Warcraft,” an online role-playing game.

Besides his stepmother and father, Jason Spradlin, Logan’s family includes his brother Mykka, 11, sisters Amanda, 16, and Stephanie, 14, and Sheri Spradlin’s son Connor, 15.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — Community Health Partners has scrapped a plan to build a new hospital on Schadden Road in Elyria.

The parent company of Community Regional Medical Center in Lorain, “abandoned” the plan about a year ago, Megan Manahan, vice president of marketing for Community Health Partners, said Thursday.

“We didn’t think it met the needs of the community and our organization’s strategic needs,” she said.

Elyria Mayor Bill Grace said he officially received notification Wednesday that the tentatively named St. Mary’s Community Hospital wasn’t going to happen but that he had been aware that CHP wasn’t going forward with the plan for some time.

“They thought that being closer to Cuyahoga County was a better market position,” he said.

The hospital has been trying to sell parcels of land it purchased in the run-up to announcing the St. Mary’s plan in 2007, both Grace and Manahan said.

CHP also has just paid more than $6 million for about 33 acres of property in Avon near the state Route 611 interchange off Interstate 90.

Manahan said the hospital system is still developing plans for the site, but both doctors and patients have expressed a desire for CHP to have a presence near Avon.

“We’re still finalizing what the plans are for that facility,” Manahan said, adding that what the impact on a nearby physicians’ office and pediatric practice run by CHP has not yet been determined.

She said the Avon area, which already has an EMH Regional Medical Center emergency facility and where the Cleveland Clinic has plans to build a medical office building, is an attractive area because of highway access.

Manahan said the new Avon facility won’t have a negative impact on Community Regional Medical Center, which is located on Kolbe Road.

“We expect the main facility to remain strong,” she said.

The Elyria hospital that CHP was considering had drawn fire from EMH officials, who contended that the Elyria area couldn’t support two hospitals.

CHP will continue to operate its cancer center on Schadden Road and plans to keep much of the property that had been purchased for St. Mary’s to use for future expansion of the cancer center, Manahan said.

Grace said there are already industrial companies interested in the property CHP has put up for sale.
“We had hoped they were going to build the expanded facility,” he said. “But the silver lining is it allows for industrial expansion in that area.”

Grace said he hopes that will eventually mean extending the dead-end Schadden Road to meet Lake Avenue. The best option, he said, would be building an extension off Liberty Court, a small dead-end road near the end of Schadden Road.

That project, which would make the area more accessible, has been under consideration for some time, but the city has never been able to secure the funding to move forward, Grace said.

This isn’t the first time CHP has dropped plans to build facilities. In 2005, the hospital system announced plans to build a facility in North Ridgeville, but that project never left the drawing board.

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

ELYRIA — Two laid-off Lorain County Sheriff’s deputies were back on the streets Thursday, knocking on doors in an effort to convince voters to leave in place a 0.5 percent sales tax hike imposed by county commissioners earlier this year.

Dan Strohsack quickly won the support of Bud Shuster on Pinewood Drive in Elyria after he explained what he and his fellow deputies did for the cities — running the jail, keeping track of sex offenders and serving warrants.

“I think they deserve it,” Shuster said after Strohsack finished his pitch.

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Not everyone has been so easily sold, Strohsack said, but most are willing to listen, and many of those have promised to vote for Issue 4 when they cast their ballots next month.

Citing dwindling revenue, the commissioners slashed $6 million across county government late last year, a move that led to more than 75 county workers, including 12 full-time deputies and eight part-time deputies, losing their jobs.

Two of the laid-off deputies have returned to work thanks to funding from the Lorain County Solid Waste Management District, but others have been forced to take work where they can.

Strohsack is working as a corrections officer in the county jail and picking up a few shifts with Kipton police. Ryan Sayers, another laid-off deputy who was knocking on doors with Strohsack on Thursday afternoon, worked as a Lorain County Metro Parks ranger over the summer and is now working at the jail.

But Strohsack said if the sales tax fails at the polls, a wing at the jail could be closed, and he and Sayers could be out of work again. Besides, he said, he doesn’t want to be a corrections officer, he wants to be a cop.

“You could pay me the same to go dig a ditch, but I want to be back out there doing what I love,” Strohsack told Roger Vanek, another Pinewood Drive resident.

Vanek said he wasn’t convinced. He said he is opposed to the 0.5 percent income tax hike that the city of Elyria is trying to get passed because he fears it will simply lead to city workers taking home more money.

“I have a problem with the police and fire here in town, with this longevity pay,” he said.

Vanek said government workers need to be willing to sacrifice.

“Some of these people had it good for a long time,” he said. “But there’s a lot of people who don’t know where the next slice of bread is coming from.”

Vanek also said he wants to see immediate results if he does vote to keep the county sales tax increase in place, something Strohsack said will definitely happen. If the sales tax does pass, he said, he and his fellow laid-off deputies will be back on the job within a week.

Strohsack said he believes the sales tax is the fairest way to raise money for the county because everyone will end up paying a little to put the deputies back on the road.

“The drug dealer who buys his $200 pair of shoes is going to be paying it,” he told Vanek. “He’s actually going to pay for us to go out and get him.”

Sayers said he’s been telling people that the commissioners aren’t bluffing when they say the county needs the money and more cuts will happen if the sales tax increase doesn’t pass.
“They really need it,” he said. “This is reality.”

Sheriff’s Capt. Dennis Cavanaugh, commander of the Lorain County Drug Task Force, said he has been coordinating the deputies’ door-to-door campaign.

Right now, he said, the deputies are focusing on Elyria and Carlisle and Elyria townships, but they also plan to hit Lorain and other areas of the county in the coming weeks. About 30 deputies are expected to knock on doors Saturday, he said.

And the deputies won’t be alone, Cavanaugh said. Assistant county prosecutors and other county workers who have taken pay cuts or seen coworkers lose their jobs also will be campaigning for the tax over the next month.

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

BEREA — Braylon Edwards is no longer the Browns’ headache. Or their most talented offensive player.

The Browns traded the former Pro Bowl receiver to the New York Jets this morning for receiver Chansi Stuckey, who started three games this season, special teamer Jason Trusnik and two undisclosed draft choices. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the picks are third- and fifth-rounders.

Braylon Edwards

“Looking at this opportunity, this was a really good thing for us and a good thing for Braylon, and I wish him all the best,” Browns coach Eric Mangini said.

Edwards had a checkered career in Cleveland since being the No. 3 overall pick in 2005, and the latest off-the-field incident may have punched his ticket out of town.

Edwards was alledgedly involved in an incident outside a nightclub early Monday morning. A friend of LeBron James claimed Edwards punched him in the face.

Mangini was asked if the trade was a result of the altercation.

“Personal conduct is important to me,” he said. “(Trade) opportunities come up at different times. I thought that this was one that was good for us and good for Braylon.”

Many of the Browns players expressed shocked over the move. Edwards was the biggest name on offense and the guy opposing defenses had to game-plan for the most.

But they realize the NFL is a business and that Mangini may have been sending a message to the rest of the locker room.

“That’s been the message since he got here: You’re gonna do things the way you’re supposed to do it and told to do it, and if you’re not then we’ll find somebody else,” left tackle Joe Thomas said.

Edwards set a franchise record with 16 touchdown catches in 2007 and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl. He led the league last year in dropped passes and got off to a slow start this season.

Mangini spent the last three years as coach of the Jets, before being fired in January and quickly hired by Cleveland owner Randy Lerner. On draft day in April, Mangini dealt the No. 5 pick to the Jets for picks and players. The Jets used the fifth selection on USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, who became the first rookie quarterback to win his first three starts.

He’s now given the Jets a starting quarterback and No. 1 receiver.