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.

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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.

ELYRIA — Lorain County Commissioner Lori Kokoski’s boyfriend, Ron Massimiani, has been indicted on misdemeanor charges for a March fight in which he allegedly bit the thumb of a man Kokoski used to date.

Kokoski

Kokoski was not charged in connection with the March 24 fight at the Henrietta Township home of Sam Birach.

Massimiani, a former employee of county Engineer Ken Carney, is charged with assault and criminal trespass, according to Oberlin Municipal Court records.

Kokoski, who declined to comment Thursday, previously has said that Massimiani, with whom she has had an on-again, off-again relationship, was at her Lorain home when she received a text message from Birach, whom she dated last year. She also has said she received a string of harassing text messages and emails from Birach since they broke up late last year.

When she showed Massimiani the text message he became angry, Kokoski has said, and went out to his truck. Kokoski, who was wearing slippers and pajamas, went outside to try to calm him down, she has said.

Over her objections, Kokoski has said, Massimiani decided to drive to Birach’s Vermilion Road home to confront him about the messages.

They arrived a little after 11 p.m. and Kokoski has said she stayed in the truck while Massimiani got out and knocked on the door of a screened-in-porch. She has said she saw Massimiani go into the house and then heard arguing, followed by the sounds of a scuffle.

Kokoski has said she went inside to see what was going on and saw Birach on top of Massimiani, punching him.

Kokoski has said she told the pair to stop fighting, but when Massimiani stood up, Birach was still hanging onto him and the two fell over and hit a pedestal table.

She has said she and Massimiani left a few moments later.

Birach called 911 around 1:20 a.m. to report that he had been assaulted and that his thumb was bitten during the struggle. Deputies have said the thumb wasn’t severed, but that the damage was “severe.”

Dan Wightman, Massimiani’s attorney, said his client never planned to attack Birach when he went to the house that night.

“I believe that it was well established that this was not intended to be an assault,” Wightman said. “He went over there in response to a text that Lori received and he felt was inappropriate.”

Wightman also said while Massimiani is relieved not to be facing felony charges in the case, he would have preferred not to have been charged at all.

“He respects the fact that he made mistakes and things got out of hand,” Wightman said.

Mike Duff, Kokoski’s lawyer, said he was pleased the grand jurors who reviewed the case decided she hadn’t broken the law.

“I think the grand jury did the right thing. She did nothing wrong,” Duff said. “She was trying to prevent the whole thing.”

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

ELYRIA — It doesn’t look like much now — it’s simply a cleared field surrounded by trees that is a stone’s throw from downtown.

But the area is perfect for composting, which is great news because starting Monday, the location near Chestnut and Elm streets will open to the public as the Elyria Regional Compost Facility.

The facility, a partnership between Kurtz Bros. of Independence and the city, was five months in the making and will change how the city collects yard waste. Kurtz will operate the facility; the city provided the land.

No longer will residents take grass clippings, leaves and brush to the city’s Central Maintenance Garage. The city site offered no oversight or security and often left city employees to pick up the mess left behind by residents, who dumped their waste at all hours.

Kevin Brubaker, the city’s deputy safety service director, said the new setup is a “win-win-win situation.”

The city benefits because a private company now will be responsible for collecting the raw materials and turning it into compost. Residents will continue to be able to drop off their yard waste for free and, in exchange, the agriculture materials will be available at an “Elyria-only” price.

And Kurtz Bros. will benefit because it’ll get a second retail location, adding to the one it operates in Avon.

The idea to start a partnership with Kurtz Bros. came about because the city is on target to spend more than $170,000 this year to have yard waste hauled away.

The city is paying $13.70 a yard to have grass clippings and yard waste hauled away and $3 a yard to have the same done for leaf waste.

It is estimated that 7,000 cubic yards of grass clippings and yard waste and 25,000 cubic yards of leaf waste will be collected this year.

Kurtz uses the waste to produce mulch, compost and topsoil that it then sells on the retail market.

The new rates for the city under the proposal would be $4 per cubic yard for yard waste and $1 a cubic yard for leaf waste.

Today is the final day residents can drop off yard waste at the city’s Central Maintenance Garage on Garden Street.

Regular hours for dropping off at the new compost facility are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Unlike before — when residents could make drop offs without informing city employees — residents will have to show identification and/or utility bills to ensure the waste being dropped off is that of Elyria residents only.

Brubaker said the city knows some residents will continue to come to the Garden Street location during the transition.
City employees will be available to point them in the right direction of the new facility.

To educate residents on the change, a flier will soon go out in utility bills, he said.

Beyond the changes in location and time, Brubaker said residents who bag their yard waste in plastic bags will have to break the bags and dump the waste in the designated spot at the new facility.

Kurtz Bros. cannot compost the plastic bags and will not accept bagged material.

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