VERMILION — Vermilion police are calling the shooting death of a man early this morning suspicious.

Officers were called to a home at 2001 North Ridge Road just after 6 this morning and found Jeremy Simko, 36, dead of a gunshot wound in a bedroom.

“We have information that leads us to suspect that it needs looked into more than the average suicide,” according to Police Chief Bob Kish.

“He was shot in a manner that causes us great concern,” Kish said. “We don’t know at this point if it’s a homicide or a suicide, but we’re treating it as a suspicious death.”

Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus said he didn’t expect to rule on a cause of death until late this week or next week.

Simko and his wife, Julene, were in the house when police arrived, but Kish wouldn’t say whether it was believed anyone else was in the house at the time of the shooting.

Watch Vermilion Police Chief Bob Kish talk about the shooting:

Julene Simko was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where she was treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

“She was very distraught, very upset,” according to Kish. “She was having difficulty communicating with us and was crying and emotional” but did not have any obvious physical injuries or gunshot wounds.

“We thought she needed to get checked out,” Kish said.

The Simkos own and operate Simko Tree Service, which is based at their home and other buildings on their property.

According to the Simko Web site, “Jeremy and Julene Simko are honest, trustworthy, and hardworking people. We have an excellent safety record and take pride in our work. Quality is key at Simko Tree Service.”

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A neighbor, who didn’t want to give her name, said she wasn’t close with the Simkos but had seen them just yesterday raking leaves in their yard.

“They were always together,” the neighbor said. “Always. If you saw one, you saw the other.”

Police remained on the scene late Wednesday and planned to have the house secured for at least another day, Kish said. Julene Simko had not returned to the house, and Kish couldn’t say where she was.

Officers were searching the yard and driveway area with metal detectors midday today.

“It’s a large house, a large barn, two out-buildings, a large area of land with houses far apart, and we need to question residents and neighbors,” Kish said when asked about the length of time being spent processing the scene.

Vermilion police and the coroner were being assisted by the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the Lorain County prosecutor’s office.

A number of animals were on the property, and police were making arrangements to be sure they were taken care of, Kish said.

Kish said there were three to five dogs, all of which were secured, and a handful of geese and chickens.

Contact Rona Proudfoot at 329-7124 or rproudfoot@chroniclet.com.

LORAIN — Lorain Schools is considering closing down one of the two high schools as part of a myriad of cost-cutting measures that will have to be explored to erase a $9 million deficit the district will face in 2011.

Students would likely move to the high school that remained, saving between $1.5 million and $2 million, and some staff from the shuttered school may also have to be cut.

Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said a decision on consolidating Admiral King and Southview high schools would have to be made before the end of the year to prepare, and no move would take place until fall 2010 at the earliest.

Atkinson said Tuesday the move isn’t final and no decision has been made in terms of which school would be closed, but the prospect is appealing because the district was planning to go to one high school anyway once a new building is erected.

“The thinking is if we are going to go to one high school at some point, why not do it now and get some cost savings out of it?” Atkinson said in advance of Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

The district is currently working with the Ohio School Facilities Commission to refine its master building plan and in the course of those conversations, it was determined that state money would be granted to build one new high school to replace the existing ones. Atkinson said there is no timeline yet on when that new high school would arrive.

She said neither school would have a problem handling the population of the other.

Atkinson and her staff have been discussing areas the district could cut since voters rejected a 6.43-mill levy by more than 6,000 votes earlier this month.

Other proposals include eliminating preschool, additional layoffs, reduction in books, stopping building repairs and vehicle purchases, and additional building consolidations, perhaps to include moving Whittier Middle School students to another building in advance of a new middle school building scheduled to be built soon.

“I think the people spoke through their vote, and we would be less of leaders if we did not rise to the occasion,” Atkinson said. “This will be difficult, but necessary.”

Atkinson presented the proposed cuts to school board members Tuesday night with the sobering news that even with the estimated $4.1 million they would save and another try at an even larger levy in February or May, the district would still be short $2.1 million in 2011.

Read more

• High schools on the chopping block in Lorain.
• Levy needed, but it won’t be enough, school board says.
• Anger remains from 1996 closing of Elyria West.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com and Adam Wright at 329-7129 or awright@chroniclet.com.

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HENRIETTA TWP. — A large fire this morning completely destroyed a large maintenance workshop at Born Implement in Henrietta Township.

At least six fire departments responded to 11645 Gifford Road, and a large cloud of dark smoke could be seen for miles around.

No one was hurt in the fire, although several loud explosions as the barn burned made for some tense moments for onlookers.

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Owner Howard Born said workers in another building on the property noticed smoke a little after 10 a.m. and called 911.

The building, which Born said had been one story and approximately 120 feet by 60 feet, was a workshop where employees serviced farm equipment Born sells.

Born said two loud explosions as firefighters battled the blaze were likely drums of used motor oil. The first explosion sent several large flaming chunks of the barn flying through the air, one landing close to one group of firefighters. The second sent a large cloud of flaming gases into the sky just over onlookers’ heads.

Paul Opalenik of Birmingham, a local photographer who was snapping pictures at the scene, was splattered with little flecks of oil in the first blast. His camera lens was splattered as well, prompting him to call it a day.

A crowd of about a dozen people, some of them Born employees and some of them wearing Born Implement sweatshirts milled around the fire scene, many of them on cell phones.

Howard Born could do little but watch and field a constant stream of cell phone calls from friends and family as word about the fire spread.

“How am I feeling?” he repeated to one caller. “Awe, hell …” he responded, apparently at a loss for words.

But Born was keeping things in perspective.

“My son was killed three years ago in a bad car wreck,” he said. “After that, I deal with problems in a different way.

“This is a material thing that can be fixed,” he said. “It’s awful, but thank God nobody was hurt.

Firefighters from South Amherst, Amherst, Vermilion and Florence, Camden and Rochester townships responded.

Contact Rona Proudfoot at 329-7124 or rproudfoot@chroniclet.com.

A fire overnight a 10005 East River Road in Columbia Station damaged an abandoned country club, according to a 911 dispatcher.

Crews were called at 12:12 a.m. Firefighters from Columbia Township, Eaton Township, Grafton Township, Carlisle Township and from Medina County responded. Ohio Edison was also called to the scene.

The fire was out within a couple hours, but a crew remains at the scene this morning.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.