ELYRIA — Housed in a new three-story building on the campus of Lorain County Community College, the Mike and Barbara Bass Library/Community Resource Center is unique in Ohio.

Because of the innovative collaboration of a college library with a public library, representatives from the college and the Elyria Public Library System were honored Monday with the 2009 Library Innovation Award from the Ohio Library Council.

Held on the first floor of the library, the ceremony honored the library and the college for its partnership.

The result is a hybrid library/classroom building for the college and a full-service working branch for the library. The library opened in August 2008 and provides access to information and technology to students, educators, children, senior citizens, working adults and families.

Library Director Janet Stoffer said the decision to team with the college to open the North Branch was not about breaking new ground. Instead, both entities wanted to further their missions in a way that benefited the community.

“We are talking about two institutions, entities that could add one and one and come up with three,” she said. “We knew going in this was going to be a great fit for us.”

It was LCCC President Roy Church who first approached the library system about the partnership a few years back. The college was already planning to build a new library to replace its 40-year-old facility but wanted it to also include a public library option.

“LCCC is in the business of providing opportunities to stimulate innovation —– innovation in education, economic, community and cultural growth — for people, organizations, businesses and communities,” Church said. “This partnership between LCCC and the Elyria Public Library System was an innovative way to meet the expanding needs of our community for learning, access to technology and personal growth.”

The Library Innovator Award was established to recognize creative and successful initiatives started at libraries across the state.

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

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EATON TWP. — Veterinarian Lisa Fox Wright said she was trying to save two Neopolitan mastiff Kane Corso mix dogs from traffic on busy state Route 82 on Wednesday afternoon when she was suddenly attacked.

The dogs, a male weighing about 140 pounds and a female weighing about 120 pounds, left her with wounds on her arms and her body.

“I fell once on my back, and the male went for my throat,” said Fox Wright, who is almost three months pregnant. “I thought my husband would find me mauled in the front yard.”

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Fortunately, her training as a vet kicked in and she did not turn and run, leaving her back vulnerable. After struggling to her feet, she was determined to get to a safe place.

“My thought was to get to the porch,” she said.

Once she was safely inside the porch but locked out of her house, the dogs circled outside marking the bushes.

She said it felt like a miracle to find her cell phone still in her pocket so she could call for help.

Her father, Dr. William Fox at Fox Veterinary Hospital, called 911, which alerted the Lorain County Dog Warden’s office about the dogs, which also tried to attack some schoolchildren.

She said she calmed down when the Eaton Township Fire Department showed up, gave her oxygen and began treating her wounds.

Several hours after the attack, the two dogs were struck and killed on the road, said deputy dog warden Nelson Delgado. Their heads will be sent off for rabies testing.

The dogs’ owner, Donald Goble Jr., 27, was charged with having dogs at large and failure to have a kennel license. The law requires such a license for anyone keeping more than eight dogs; Delgado said Goble had 11, including the two involved in the attack.

Delgado said Goble told him that coyotes had been in the area upsetting the female, which was in heat. She burrowed under her cage, and the male broke the divider fence to follow, Delgado said.

Goble, who was not at home at the time of the attack, “apologized and is sorry, but I said the bottom line is that she’s pregnant and she got attacked,” Delgado said.

Fox Wright, 25, said she feels sorry for the loss of any pet, but her husband Jim Wright Jr. was less charitable.

“I just want those dogs out of the community,” Wright said of the dogs kept by Goble on the property he rents at 36821 Royalton Road.

Wright said he thinks there are inadequate safeguards at the property and that Goble’s dogs did not act like normal domesticated dogs.

“I’ve had big dogs around all my life, and they’re gentle as kittens,” he said.

Goble could not be reached for comment.

It took nearly an hour and a half for the deputy dog warden to show up Wednesday, and Eaton Township firefighters watched cautiously as the dogs chased several cars following the attack.

Wright said he was upset that no deputy arrived to take a report and blamed layoffs at the sheriff’s department that have decimated road patrols.

“It’s an attack on a person whether it’s a dog or not,” said Wright, a volunteer firefighter in Columbia Township.

A deputy answering the phone said dog attacks are normally handled by the dog warden and not deputies.

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

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Avon Middle School art teacher Anne Maiden has been tied to five vehicle break-ins in two local park systems, and at least a half dozen other agencies in Lorain and Medina counties want to talk to her, according to Pat McCaslin, assistant director and chief ranger for the Lorain County Metro Parks.

This picture of Anne Maiden ran in The Chronicle in 2007 when she was featured in the "15 minutes" spotlight column. Maiden, of Elyria, was owner of Clay Dog Pottery in Elyria and an organizer of the Elyria Art Walk. It was not clear immediately whether she was still involved with either. (CT file photo.)

McCaslin said this afternoon that Maiden, 38, of Elyria, will be facing charges for using credit cards taken from vehicles during two break-ins in the Lorain County Metro Parks. McCaslin didn’t have specifics on what the charges were and said she couldn’t say whether Maiden was involved in the break-ins themselves or just the credit card use.

“Credit cards were stolen from purses in the vehicles, they were used, and video from the stores was determined to be Anne Maiden,” McCaslin said. “We’ve interviewed her, and she’s admitted to some of the use.”

The video showed Maiden purchasing a large television and gift cards, McCaslin said.

Maiden had been charged with receiving stolen property, forgery and misuse of a credit card, all felonies, after being tied to three break-ins in the Cleveland Metro Parks.

Maiden was “definitely involved in the break-ins” themselves in the Cleveland Metroparks, according to Dianna Kall, spokeswoman for the Metroparks’ rangers, but Kall said she couldn’t say whether Maiden acted alone.

And this may be just the tip of the iceberg for Maiden.

“We’ve talked with other agencies,” McCaslin said. “At least a half dozen other agencies are interested in talking with her and have similar video of her using cards. We’re the least hit.”

The other agencies include counties, cities and villages in Lorain and Medina counties, McCaslin said.

The Cleveland Metroparks break-ins were one each in August, September and October. Hit were an unlocked car at Millstream Run Reservation in Strongsville, and cars at the Bradley Woods Reservation in Westlake and the Little Met Golf Course in Cleveland that had their windows broken.

The Lorain County Metro Parks break-ins were cars at Day’s Dam in the Black River Reservation in Lorain and the Columbia Reservation.

Maiden appeared in The Chronicle in 2007 when she was featured in the “15 minutes” column. Maiden at the time owned Clay Dog Pottery in Elyria and told The Chronicle she was an organizer of the Elyria Art Walk.

Maiden told The Chronicle her specialty was nature-themed pottery and “Raku” fire pottery.

About her art, she said, “I don’t think it’s ever going to be a job. I don’t want to ‘go to work.’ I’m never so satisfied as when I’m at an art show and people are buying my work. I love getting people hooked on pottery because I love it so much.”

Read Friday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

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

VERMILION TWP. — An armed robber accused of holding up the Dairy Stop in Vermilion Township on Wednesday covered his face with a mask and his hands with gloves, police said.

But he forgot to cover his license plate.

As a result, police said they caught their man, and he’s now facing felony charges.

Matthew Laslo, 33, of Huron, is charged with aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon after Wednesday’s incident.

According to Erie County Sheriff’s Capt. Paul Sigsworth, Laslo had parked his car about four doors down from the Dairy Stop before going in to rob it.

Fortunately, Sigsworth said, witnesses saw him leave and noted his license number. He was captured a short time later.

Laslo was being held without bond in the Erie County jail pending arraignment today.

Contact Melissa Hebert at 329-7129 or mhebert@chroniclet.com.

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