NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Police are investigating reports of an attempted kidnapping of a young child Thursday afternoon from South Central Park.

No child was harmed or actually taken in the incident, according to North Ridgeville Police Lt. Vince Abt, who said a woman told officers a middle-aged white man tried to walk away with her 4-year-old grandson from the park’s popular Splash Pad water play area about 2:28 p.m.
Moments later, the man ran on foot toward Bainbridge Road.

“If he ran northbound through the park toward Bainbridge, he was running right toward the (police) department,” Abt said.

The Police Department is located across Bainbridge Road from the park in the municipal complex with city hall and other offices.

“We had five officers working,” Abt said. “It was right before shift change and some people were coming in. We also had two detectives. There were a good number of police there within seconds.”

Police have no idea whether the man was a local resident or someone who had come to the park from elsewhere, Abt said.

There were between 50 to 100 people in the park at the time of the incident, police said.
“The park is packed most days during the summer with day camp activities and other things,” Parks Director Kevin Fougerousse said. “It’s a public park and we can have hundreds of people in and out on a given day.”

Fougerousse said the Parks Department’s trained counselors and instructors are normally on the lookout for problems situations and know to contact police immediately if it appears anything of a suspicious nature is occurring.

Parks’ personnel explained to parents who were present that no children were in any real danger, Fougerousse said.

Police are now working to talk with a few other people who reportedly came forward with information that they had also seen the alleged abduction, Abt said.

“We haven’t talked to them in detail yet. There’ll definitely be more to come from this,” he said.

Police ask anyone with any information about the incident to contact them at (440) 327-2191.

KELLEYS ISLAND — For the second time this week there’s been a serious crash involving a 25-foot boat and a break wall near northwest Ohio’s Lake Erie islands.

WKYC-TV of Cleveland reports a boat struck a break wall off Kelleys Island early Friday, injuring four passengers.

Kelleys Island police say the person driving the boat was not hurt. But the four others who were on board were taken by helicopter to a hospital in Cleveland. There was no immediate word on the extent of their injuries.

Earlier this week another 25-foot boat slammed into a break wall at nearby Ballast Island, killing one person and injuring two others.

LORAIN — Sportsman Frank Webber said he encountered a large Asian carp last weekend near hot waters in Lorain — a claim that will be investigated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

LaGrange Township’s Frank Webber estimates the length of what he thinks was an Asian carp using his paddle at his home Thursday. Webber was kayaking on Lake Erie near the Lorain lighthouse Saturday when the fish jumped out of the water. (CT photo by Steve Manheim.)

Webber, 60, of LaGrange Township, said the fish leaped out of the water 10 times after he struck it with a paddle while kayaking about 7 p.m. Saturday.

“I came in around the lighthouse into hot waters, and I hit something with my paddle,” he said. “This huge fish shot straight out of the water like a rocket.”

He said the fish leaped up again and again until it was exhausted.

“It jumped up again and again around my kayak like it was insane,” he said. “I went eyeball-to-eyeball with it.”

Webber said the fish had “a big rubbery mouth” and eyes set lower in the head than a regular carp.

When he got home, he looked up Asian carp on the Internet. He said he was convinced he had an actual encounter with the invasive species, which is considered a serious threat to the $7-billion-a-year Great Lakes fishing industry.

Webber, who estimated the fish weighed 40 to 50 pounds, called local game warden Randy White to report the sighting.

Webber will be contacted for additional information about what he saw, said Ray Petering, fish chief at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Asian carp have been found in commercial fish nets in Lake Erie, but the catches are few and far between, Petering said. The last fish carcass was found about six years ago, he said.

Petering said it is possible that Webber saw a regular carp that began jumping after being struck with the paddle.

If Webber saw an Asian carp, Petering said it could have been released by people who buy live fish at Asian markets in Detroit and Cleveland and believe it is “good karma” to eat one and release one.

However, he said the fish should not even be sold because their sale violates the Lacey Act, which combats illegal trafficking in wildlife.

Asian carp were originally imported into the United States in the 1970s to clean catfish ponds, but when those fish farms flooded, the carp made it into the Mississippi and Wabash rivers where they reproduced.

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

One reported case of salmonella in Lorain County is being linked to a nationwide outbreak caused by contaminated turkey, according to officials at the Lorain County General Health District.

Grafton’s Sparkle Market has pulled ground turkey from its shelves as part of the FDA recall. (CT photo by Steve Manheim.)

The exact source of the contamination is still unknown, but meat giant Cargill, based in Minnesota, voluntarily recalled 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey Wednesday evening.

The Wellington resident exhibiting symptoms of salmonella reportedly bought contaminated meat within Lorain County but was unable to identify an exact location.

According to Cargill, all of the packages recalled include the code “Est. P-963,” but packages were labeled under many different brands, including Honeysuckle White, Riverside Ground Turkey, Natural Lean Ground Turkey and Shady Brook Ground Turkey Burgers.

The recall also includes ground turkey products packaged under the HEB, Safeway, Kroger, Randall’s and Giant Eagle grocery store brands. The recall also includes some ground turkey that isn’t labeled at all and some that went to food service establishments, according to Cargill.

Employees at Giant Eagle locations were not able to comment on the outbreak, and the corporate headquarters did not return calls.

However, Sparkle Market in Grafton took the precautionary measure of removing all of itsground turkey from the shelves and quarantining it. IGA in Oberlin made the same move.

Commissioner Kenneth Pearce of the Lorain County General Health District stressed that not all turkey available from grocers is contaminated.

“This particular turkey product is not your sliced turkey in the deli,” Pearce said Thursday. “It’s ‘comminuted’ or ground-up turkey that’s been identified as the problem.”

Bacteria generally gathers on the surface of meat, but when the meat is ground up, it’s possible for it to enter the middle of the meat. If meat is improperly cooked, bacteria may remain in the middle and cause salmonella in humans.

It is still possible to eat the meat if it has been cooked to above 165 degrees, but Pearce recommends disposing of the product.

If you come in contact with the product, it is recommended that you to wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds.

Ohio is tied with Michigan for the highest reported number of sicknesses, 10. Texas has reported nine; Illinois, seven; California, six; and Pennsylvania, five.

Neither Mercy Allen Hospital in Oberlin nor EMH Medical Center in Elyria has encountered patients with symptoms of salmonella, according to employees.

Contact Emily Kennedy at 329-7243 or ekennedy@chroniclet.com.