Lorain County and much of north central Ohio is under a flood watch through tomorrow morning.

According to the National Weather Service, showers will increase in coverage and intensity this afternoon and evening. Thunderstorms are possible near Lake Erie.

Rainfall totals will range from one to three inches, but the ground is already saturated, so flood-prone areas and poor drainage areas will be at risk for flooding.

The National Weather Service recommends monitoring the forecast. Those who live in flood-prone areas should be ready to take action in case flooding develops.

ELYRIA — The State Highway Patrol will conduct a drunken driving checkpoint in Elyria tonight.

The checkpoint, on state Route 57 near Bell Avenue, will be set up from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Federal money pays for the effort, which is planned to intercept and deter impaired drivers.

Their will also be additional patrols in areas nearby the checkpoint, according to the Highway Patrol.

“Based on provisional data, there were 364 OVI-related fatal crashes in which 397 people were killed last year in Ohio,” Lt. Travis Hughes, Elyria post commander, said in a news release. “State troopers make an average of 25,000 OVI arrests each year in an attempt to combat these dangerous drivers. OVI checkpoints are designed not to not only deter impaired driving but to proactively remove these dangerous drivers from our roadways.”

The Highway Patrol asks that anyone who plans to drink designate a driver or make other travel arrangements before they begin to drink.

CLEVELAND — Amidst low expectations and a wealth of injuries to key players, Indians manager Manny Acta guided his team to 80 wins and a second-place finish in the Central Division.

Acta

For that, he was rewarded Thursday, with Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti announcing the club would exercise its contract option on Acta for the 2013 season.

“I feel much better where we are organizationally today than we were a year ago, and a lot of that is due to Manny Acta,” Antonetti said.

With few picking Cleveland to finish any higher than fourth in a suspect division, Acta and the Indians were baseball’s early surprise story, sporting the majors’ best record for nearly all of the first two months of the season.

Injuries, performance issues and a surging Tigers team ended Cleveland’s bid at contention, but expectations were clearly exceeded for a young team with what the organization believes has a promising future.

“I’m happy to be a part of this,” Acta said. “From Day 1, my goal was to be here. I wanted to be here.”

The Indians added starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez at the trading deadline, and Acta figures to get more to work with next season, with Antonetti saying Cleveland’s payroll would increase “significantly.”

The GM did not go into specifics, but the Indians are expected to be on the search for a position player or two to improve offensively — a substantial weakness in 2011.

Cleveland’s payroll was at $49.4 million to begin this year.

The Indians have a wealth of decisions to make this offseason, including whether to exercise the options on Grady Sizemore ($8.5 million) and Fausto Carmona ($7 million).

Sizemore, a three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove award winner, struggled through another injury-plagued season, while Carmona was inconsistent after beginning the year as the team’s ace.

Antonetti did not rule out re-signing outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who, like Jimenez, was acquired in a trading deadline deal with the Cubs, and was a valuable asset over the final two months of the season.

But it appears the Indians are unlikely to bring back Jim Thome, the franchise’s all-time leader with 337 home runs. Thome’s return boosted attendance, but Cleveland already has a designated hitter taking up a large part of its payroll in Travis Hafner, who is owed $13 million next season in the final year of his contract.

Along with Acta’s return in 2013, another certainty is that Tim Belcher will not be back as pitching coach. The 49-year-old Belcher resigned, citing family responsibilities, but will take a different job in the organization in 2012.

Acta said he was surprised when Belcher informed him he was stepping down three months ago.

“After much reflection and deliberation, I have decided not to return as the major league pitching coach for the 2012 season,” Belcher said in a statement. “When I accepted the position two years ago, I understood and embraced the challenges of the role. Over the last two years, I was fully committed to the responsibilities of the job and enjoyed it. However, as I began to look forward to 2012, I felt that I would not be able to balance the changing needs of my family and the demands of the job.

“I want to thank the Indians for the opportunity to work with a good young pitching staff the past two years. I am excited about the future of the team and I welcome the opportunity to continue working for the club in another capacity going forward.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

EATON TWP. — The night Holly Dembie died, she sent an email to friends and family saying “I love you and you are my sunshine,” her mother told a crowd that gathered Thursday for the dedication of Holly’s Memory Garden.

A sign at Holly’s Memory Garden, which was dedicated Thursday at Midview West Elementary School. (CT photo by Steve Manheim.)

It was typical of how Dembie, a special-needs instructor for Midview Schools, lived her life, said her mother Cheryl Foldes.

“My daughter was sunshine to me,” Foldes said. “She was the light of my life.”

One by one, co-workers, friends and relatives explained how Dembie had made their lives brighter.

“I am so very fortunate in this life our paths crossed,” said Patricia Hamilton, her principal at West Elementary.

Click here to view more photos.

The crowd smiled as Hamilton reminisced about how Dembie would make her laugh by singing songs from the ’60s or demonstrating “silly karate moves.”

Planning for a garden at West Elementary was already in the works when Dembie was killed last month. Her husband, former Lorain County Jail guard William Dembie Jr., is facing charges including aggravated murder in her Aug. 11 death.

The school community decided to name the garden, which was funded through a grant from Ross Industries, in Dembie’s honor after her death, Midview Superintendent John Kuhn said.

Kuhn’s voice cracked as he recalled Dembie’s “contagious smile” and sense of humor that just made him feel better when she was around.

Kuhn said that he can close his eyes and “play little movies” of his exchanges with Dembie — just like he can with his grandparents, father and aunts and uncles who also have died.

Annette Marsaw, a staff member at North Elementary, where Dembie also had worked, presented her family with a handmade shawl “made with love and prayers” by members oft North Eaton Christian Church.

“The one word I can use to best describe her is sunshine … The glass was always half-full,” Marsaw said.

Sunshine was definitely the major theme of Thursday’s garden dedication, which also was attended by her stepfather, Michael Foldes, her 4-year-old son, William, and her brothers, Michael Foldes and Nick Foldes.

Cheryl and Michael Foldes are caring for William, and Cheryl Foldes said, “I’ve been teaching the little guy ‘You Are my Sunshine.’”

In Dembie’s honor, everyone sang the song, some wiping away tears.

After the ceremony wrapped up, Michael Foldes smiled and recalled the many happy times his stepdaughter hosted impromptu cookouts for her family, who lived a few doors away in Grafton Township.

Foldes said his stepdaughter never failed to save food for her husband, who was often at work at the county jail.

Foldes said it was a difficult marriage, but she still cared and thought about him.

“She was very caring for Bill, and when we had cookouts, she always said, ‘Make sure and leave something for Bill,’ ” Michael Foldes said.

Dembie’s aunt, Diedre Ashman, said William is doing the best he can, although “He always asks for her.”

“My sister tells him ‘Mommy’s in heaven looking down at you.’ ” Ashman said.

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