ELYRIA — The city is in the middle of a tug-of-war between residents who want to see the property and land Wal-Mart abandoned on Griswold Road turned into green space and the Arkansas-based corporation’s rights as private property owners.

A worker checks the pump pulling smelly water from the basement of the former Maplewood Elementary School. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

John Pittman, a resident of West River Road North, is leading the charge to get the property cleared and said he will keep working at it until he is successful.

“For me, this started four years ago when they said they wanted to turn the property into a Walmart Supercenter. They put up a construction fence, but just let it waste away while they decided they didn’t want to bother with the store at all,” Pittman said from his front yard, which faces the east side of the property. “This company has the money. They can just bring the buildings down, clear the land and just leave it as vacant space until someone comes along to buy it.”

The area in question is roughly 20 acres and includes several buildings, the most notable being the old Maplewood Elementary School. Another brick building on the land was used by the state as an unemployment office.

Wal-Mart purchased the property in 2006 with the idea it would build a superstore to replace a store near Midway Mall at the Midway Crossings Plaza. But in the years that followed, Wal-Mart built a store in Lorain and closed the Midway Crossings store. The property has been for sale for several years.

Wal-Mart has not responded to a request for comment.

Pittman said over the years he has spoken with Wal-Mart officials to no avail. It was not until a town hall meeting hosted by Councilman Mark Craig, I-4th Ward, that he said someone from the city finally listened to his concerns about tall grass growing around the property and standing water in and around the buildings.

Kevin Brubaker, deputy safety service director, said the first time he toured the property earlier this summer he found that the school had been breached and there was evidence that someone had trespassed. Water in the school had completely inundated the basement and up to the first floor landing.

“My first call to Wal-Mart was not a happy call, because I told them they had to secure the fence and the building, cut the grass and get the water out of the building,” he said. “And, I must say they have done just that, which leaves us a little hand-tied to force them to take the building down. They were very receptive and quick to answer.”

Thursday, a private company hired by Wal-Mart to handle the water issues in the building could be seen using a huge sewer vacuum to pump water from the building into the city’s wastewater system. It was an all-day job.

Brubaker said the city sent a crew from its Wastewater Department to do a water test last week to check for chlorine and PCBs before giving Wal-Mart the go-ahead to dump the water into the city sewers. Also, the pumps were metered so a sewer bill could be sent to Wal-Mart when the clean-up was done.

In two days, crews pumped more than 810,000 gallons of water out of the old school.

“With what they will pay for sewer services and what they paid the company to do the work, I think they probably could have just taken the building down and been done with it,” he said. “But at this point, as long as they do their job to keep the property secure, the city will not have a major concern. We are not going to push too hard. They are being a good neighbor and we are working with them to positively get them to do the right thing.”

Pittman said he won’t stop until he can look out his window and see nothing but a clear lot.
“I’m looking out for my neighborhood,” he said. “It’s been an eyesore for so many years and I will keep at it,” he said.

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

Dembie

GRAFTON TWP. — Lorain County Jail Corrections Officer William Dembie Jr. called the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office around 1:30 a.m. Thursday and calmly confessed to Dispatcher Joy Sanchez that he had just killed his wife, Holly Dembie.

Listen to the 911 call:

In a recording of the call, released today by the sheriff’s office, William Dembie originally said there was a fight at the couple’s home at 14900 Cowley Road and when Sanchez asked him to clarify there had been a fight, he replied, “Uh, more like almost a beheading, yeah.”

Deputy County Coroner Eric Lockhart has said that the 33-year-old Holly Dembie wasn’t beheaded, but some of the multiple stab wounds on her body were in the neck area.

When Sanchez asked who he had killed, William Dembie replied, “My wife, my ex-wife,” before giving a little laugh.

William Dembie, 42, insisted that he wasn’t a threat to the deputies whom Sanchez had dispatched to the scene. He said he was in the kitchen and that Holly Dembie’s body was in the backyard, as was the Ka-Bar combat knife he used to kill her.

“I don’t have nothing. I’m not, I’m not dangerous. I just couldn’t deal with her shit anymore,” Dembie said.

Dembie also told Sanchez that he was alone at the house, except for his dog.

“Just take good care of my dog,” he said.

The couple’s 4-year-old son was at his mother-in-law’s, Dembie told Sanchez. He also said that while he’d had a few drinks, he wasn’t drunk.

Although Sanchez had asked Dembie to remain on the line, the call eventually went dead. Deputies have said Dembie met them at the house and confessed to killing his wife.

Dembie, who is being held in the Erie County Jail on a $5 million bond, has been charged with murder and domestic violence.

Read Saturday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

ELYRIA — Johnny Smith Jr., the man allegedly punched by an Elyria police officer while handcuffed to a hospital bed, is back in the Lorain County Jail after testing positive for cocaine.

Smith

Smith, 43, was released from jail less than two weeks ago after serving six months on charges of failure to comply, obstructing official business and DUI for the Jan. 27 incident that led to his arrest.

According to Elyria Municipal Court records, during a Thursday hearing Smith admitted to using cocaine. The drug use violated a condition of his plea agreement in a 2010 case in which he pleaded no contest to attempted unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

He was supposed to remain clean for five years or he would have to serve a 120-day jail sentence, court records showed.

Court records also indicated that Smith, who was awarded $50,000 from the city of Elyria to avoid a threatened lawsuit, had just paid off the fines in the 2010 case.

A call to Smith’s lawyer wasn’t returned Thursday.

Smith was one of two men arrested by Elyria police officers following the theft of steaks and beer from Apples grocery store on Cleveland Street. Police reports indicate he nearly ran over Elyria police Officer James Rider with the semi he was driving, but Smith has said he didn’t see Rider.

Police surrounded the truck on Cleveland Street and reported having to physically remove a struggling Smith from the cab and force him into handcuffs. Smith has said he complied with officers, whom he has accused of beating him without reason.

Special Prosecutor John Reulbach Jr. and police have both found those allegations unfounded following their investigations.

After Smith was subdued, he was placed in a police car and taken to EMH Medical Center in Elyria so that his injuries could be checked out. While he was there the intoxicated Smith — he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.355, well above the legal limit — made a comment that he wished more police officers had died on March 15, 2010.

That’s the day Ronald Palmer ambushed and killed Elyria police Officer James Kerstetter, who was responding to a call on 18th Street. Elyria police officers Jay Loesch and Donald Moss later shot and killed Palmer when he refused orders to surrender and charged Loesch.

Loesch was one of the officers at the hospital with Smith and after he heard the comment, he and Officer Richard Walker closed to the door to Smith’s hospital room, and Loesch allegedly struck Smith once in the face.

A nurse told police she saw the blow on a monitor connected to a video camera in the room.
Loesch was given a 10-day suspension — five days of which he won’t have to serve unless he gets in trouble again in the next year — following an internal police investigation.

Smith and his lawyer later requested a criminal investigation into Loesch’s behavior, and Reulbach charged Loesch with misdemeanor assault, a charge to which the veteran officer has pleaded not guilty.

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

CLEVELAND — If Fausto Carmona is able to turn things around and finish the season strong, Indians pitching coach Tim Belcher thinks newly acquired rotation mate Ubaldo Jimenez will deserve some of the credit.

“I think the addition of Ubaldo is really going to help him,” Belcher said of Carmona, who in his first season as a fulltime ace, had struggled to a 5-11 record and 5.19 ERA prior to his start Thursday night. “Fausto’s kind of been the guy here for the last couple years since CC left. Now, all of a sudden someone’s here with top-of-the-line stuff and he’s a countryman (Dominican Republic) with similar stuff and builds.

“He will instinctively, whether he will admit it or not, pick up his game.”

Carmona certainly ramped it up in his first start after Cleveland traded for Jimenez, allowing just two earned runs over 61⁄3 innings of a 7-5 victory at Texas on Saturday.

A budding rivalry appeared to be brewing when Carmona was asked about the addition of Jimenez on the day the Indians acquired him.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” was Carmona’s odd response.

Jimenez (7-9, 4.57 ERA) has not been without his struggles this year. His velocity had been down in Colorado prior to the trade and the right-hander hasn’t been the same pitcher he was during a breakthrough season with the Rockies last year — 19-8, 2.88 ERA.

His first start with the Indians was a rough one, but he followed it up with a sparkling one in his home debut Wednesday night.

Jimenez has the unique ability to change speeds on his fastball, which makes him stand out, according to Belcher.

“His speed variations are very good,” Belcher said. “He may not have the movement on the ball like Justin (Masterson) and Fausto, but the speed variation is what is really impressive about him.”

Wounded Wahoos

• Outfielder Shin-Soo Choo (broken left thumb) resumed his rehab assignment at Class A Lake County on Thursday night. He was expected to begin playing in higher-level games in the minors but both Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron are on the road. If all goes well, Choo could be activated from the disabled list early next week.
• Outfielder Michael Brantley (right wrist) missed his second straight game, but the Indians are optimistic that the outfielder will return tonight.
• Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was a gametime decision, but was in the lineup after being hit on the foot by a pitch and leaving the game prematurely Wednesday.

No problem

Belcher isn’t concerned with the Indians starting Masterson tonight after the right-hander pitched two innings Tuesday in an abbreviated outing thanks to a lengthy rain delay.

“He’ll be fine,” Belcher said. “He threw 37 pitches, low stress, two innings. He’s such a horse. He could probably throw every third day and get by with it.”

Masterson leads the team with 1591⁄3 innings in his first full season as a starting pitcher.

Next up

The Indians host Central Division rival Minnesota in a three-game series that begins tonight at 7:05.

Masterson (9-7, 2.71 ERA) opens the set against RHP Carl Pavano (6-9, 4.71), while Josh Tomlin (11-5, 4.08) pitches Saturday (7:05), with the Twins countering with LHP Brian Duensing (8-10, 4.56).

David Huff (1-1, 0.51) is expected to pitch the series finale Sunday (1:05) against RHP Kevin Slowey (0-0, 4.91).

Minor details

• Right fielder Chad Huffman went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles Wednesday in Columbus’ 8-1 loss to Indianapolis. Huffman, a candidate to make Cleveland’s roster as an extra outfielder in spring training, entered Thursday batting .244 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs in 103 games for the Clippers.
• Converted Akron starter Paolo Espino improved to 6-0 with a 2.44 ERA in 22 games (five starts) Wednesday, tossing five scoreless innings and allowing four hits and striking out seven in a 3-0 victory over Portland.

Roundin’ third

• A scoring change from Wednesday gave first baseman Carlos Santana an error, which means all three runs Jimenez allowed in a 10-3 victory over Detroit, were unearned.
• The Indians announced the return of Snow Days to Progressive Field this winter (Nov. 25-Jan. 16), with the addition of a regulation-sized ice rink. The rink will be the site of the first-ever hockey game at the park between Ohio State and Michigan on Jan. 15.

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