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.

By Ann Sanner

COLUMBUS — Opponents of Ohio’s new elections law plan today to submit enough signatures to the state’s top election official to put the measure on temporary hold while they continue to try to get a repeal question on 2012 ballots.

Among other changes, the law shortens the pivotal presidential swing state’s early voting window and bans in-person voting on Sundays.

The state’s Democratic Party, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and others have been circulating petitions and gathering signatures in their effort to block the law.

Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern told reporters earlier this week that the groups would hand in more than 300,000 signatures to Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican who supports the elections overhaul. Elections officials would have to verify the names to make sure they meet state requirements.

Opponents need about 231,000 valid signatures to get a referendum on the law before voters next year. If they are successful, the law would be in limbo until after the presidential election. That’s the earliest chance for voters to decide whether the law should be tossed out.

The ballot repeal push does have consequences for the Nov. 8 election, when voters will decide whether to get rid of the state’s contentious new collective bargaining law.

The start date for early voting this fall has been left up in the air while the groups have been collecting signatures.

By submitting their petitions today, the opponents would halt the elections law from going into effect on Friday. That means local election officials would have to operate under the old law, with early voting starting on Tuesday.

The elections measure cleared the Republican-controlled state Legislature in late June with no Democratic support.

The law shortens the in-person early voting window from 35 days before Election Day to 17 days, and the period for absentee voting by mail from 35 days to 21. The cuts effectively eliminate a five-day period during which new voters could both register and cast a ballot on the same day.

The state’s new overhaul also bans local boards of elections from mailing unsolicited absentee ballot requests to voters, but Husted has agreed to send the requests to voters in all counties in 2012. Boards in Ohio’s larger, urban counties — those that tend to vote more Democratic — have typically made such solicitations

Husted has argued that each of the state’s 88 counties should have the same early voting hours and be open on the same days. He and his fellow Republicans contend it’s unfair that a voter in one county can cast an early ballot on a day when a voter in a neighboring county cannot.

Democrats contend the new law will lead to longer lines and make it difficult for working people to cast a ballot.

About 30 percent of the state’s total vote — or roughly 1.7 million ballots — came in ahead of Election Day in 2008.

Ohio is one of 32 states that allow voters to cast an early ballot by mail or in person without an excuse.

DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers are headed back to the same place they opened the season: Yankee Stadium.

Manager Manny Acta, right, argues with home plate umpire Dan Bellino after being ejected in the first inning yesterday. (AP photo.)

Miguel Cabrera singled and doubled, wrapping up the American League batting title in Detroit’s 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night. But that wasn’t enough to earn home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Less than an hour after the AL Central-champion Tigers won, they found out they would have to begin the postseason in New York on Friday night.

“It’s going to be fun,” catcher Alex Avila said. “I don’t think we really cared who we were playing. You know in the playoffs you’re going to play good teams.”

The Tigers could have hosted the wild card in the first round if AL West-champion Texas had lost to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. The Rangers won 3-1.

So now Detroit — which finished the season on a 30-9 tear — will take on the Yankees, who posted the best record in the American League. The Tigers opened the year by losing two of three at New York. They took three of four from the Yankees at home in early May.

Detroit is going to the postseason for the first time since 2006, when the Tigers beat New York in the first round en route to the World Series.

“They’ve got good players — that’s the bottom line,” Detroit right-hander Rick Porcello said. “If you make it anything more than that, then you’re psyching yourself out. They’re just like us. We’re a good baseball team. They’re a good baseball team.”

Cabrera finished the season hitting .344, six points ahead of Michael Young of Texas and Adrian Gonzalez of Boston.

Jhonny Peralta hit his 21st homer of the season off Vinnie Pestano (1-2) in the eighth inning to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead after Ryan Perry (2-0) allowed Cleveland to tie it in the top of the eighth.

Jose Valverde pitched the ninth to finish the regular season with 49 saves in 49 chances.

Cleveland manager Manny Acta was ejected in the first inning, enabling bench coach Tim Tolman to be the acting manager in his final game before moving to an undetermined role elsewhere in the organization. Tolman said before the game he has Parkinson’s disease.

Acta said the ejection wasn’t an attempt to let Tolman manage his finale.

“I would never make a mockery of a baseball game like that,” Acta said. “If I had wanted Tim to manage, I wouldn’t have gotten thrown out. I would have handed him the lineup cards and told him to manage. He didn’t manage the game anyway — I managed it from the tunnel. It was just like being in the penalty box.”

The Indians led 3-0, and starter Zach McAllister went five innings without allowing an earned run, but the bullpen couldn’t hold on.

Detroit took a 4-3 lead in the seventh when Wilson Betemit tripled and pinch-runner Danny Worth scored on a wild pitch. Cleveland tied it in the eighth when Perry allowed a double to Travis Hafner, a pair of walks and then a sacrifice fly by Jack Hannahan.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland said he had a piece of paper with all sorts of batting average scenarios on it, hinting he might pull Cabrera if he thought it would help him win the batting title. But Detroit needed him in there to try to win the game, and Cabrera did his part.

It was an enjoyable ending to the regular season for Cabrera, who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early in spring training. He led the American League in home runs in 2008 and RBIs last year. According to STATS, LLC, he’s one of three active players with a “career triple crown” — along with Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.

“That’s hard to do,” Cabrera said. “I just thank God for giving me the opportunity to go out there every day.”

Porcello allowed three runs and five hits in six-plus innings.

Notes

• Leyland didn’t provide an update on the playoff roster.
• Detroit finished 15 games ahead of Cleveland, which clinched sole possession of second place in the AL Central with Chicago’s loss earlier in the day. There was an impromptu celebration in the Indians’ clubhouse when the White Sox lost.
• Asdrubal Cabrera was in Cleveland’s lineup after Acta said the previous day he wasn’t planning to play him the rest of the season. “He came in and said he wanted to play,” Acta said. “He wants to get out there and play the last game of the season and set the example for his teammates.”