2128 E. 29th St. in Lorain.

LORAIN — The question of whether Lorain school board member Paul Biber actually lives in Lorain has resurfaced.

Biber

Biber came under fire in 2007 from critics who argued that the retired Lorain Schools teacher lived in Sheffield Lake and wasn’t actually living in the apartment he had rented to run for office. Biber said he provided the documentation necessary four years ago to prove he had moved to an apartment in Lorain and was eligible to vote and run for office there.

4709 Lake Road in Sheffield Lake.

Lorain County Board of Elections Director Paul Adams said Thursday that he’s received a new inquiry, but not a formal complaint, questioning Biber’s residency.

Denise Caruloff, the same woman who is challenging whether Lorain Service Director Robert Gilchrist is voting in the propor ward, said she is considering filing a complaint against Biber.

The concern appears to center on records from the Lorain County Auditor’s Office that suggest that Biber’s primary residence is one of two homes he owns in Sheffield Lake. Biber receives a 2.5 percent rollback on the property taxes he pays on the two homes, 4709 Lake Road and 315 Harris Road.

The tax break is supposed to be used only for owner-occupied homes that serve as the homeowner’s primary residence, Chief Deputy Auditor Linda Keys said.

315 Harris Road in Sheffield Lake.

Biber doesn’t receive the tax break on the home he owns at 2128 E. 29th St. in Lorain, where he is registered to vote and which he said he considers his primary residence. The property is valued at $67,600, and Biber pays $1,099.66 in taxes on the property annually. If he had the rollback, he would knock $30.54 off his tax bill each year.

When Biber purchased the East 29th Street home in 2008 for $35,000, the person who prepared the form for him that would have entitled him to the tax break stated that the house wasn’t Biber’s primary residence.

“That’s an error, then, because the whole reason I bought the house was to have a residence in Lorain,” Biber said.

Biber, who declined to discuss how often he stays in the Lorain house, said he never had any intention of doing anything improper when he bought the property.

He also said he didn’t know about the tax issue.

“I felt obligated to own property and pay taxes in a place where I was going to be making decisions about taxes,” he said.

Biber said his wife, Joan Perch-Biber, and children still live at the Lake Road home, which the couple purchased in 1993. The property is valued at $266,500 and the couple pays $5,004.56 annually in taxes on it, according to county records. The rollback saves them from paying an additional $142.98 per year.

The Harris Road house, which is next to the Lake Road property, was purchased at the same time as the Lake Road home and is valued at $263,200. The couple pays $4,942.86 in property taxes each year on what Biber described as a rental property. The tax break saves them $141.22 annually on that property, county records show.

Keys said it’s not uncommon for her office to run across someone getting the rollback on more than one property. At the time the Bibers purchased the property, the question of whether the property was going to be occupied or used as a rental wasn’t typically asked, and the rollback was usually applied whenever a home was sold, particularly if the previous owners had received it.

Keys said she can’t speak to what happened in 1993, but the standard method of dealing with property owners who have been receiving the tax break on more than one property is to send a letter asking them to declare which piece of property is their primary residence, which is where the rollback will be applied.

That’s what will happen with the Bibers, she said.

Anthony Giardini, an elections board member who also serves as an attorney for Lorain Schools, said he doesn’t see an issue with Biber having more than one residence. The one that counts, he said, is the Lorain house because that’s where Biber has declared he will live and vote.

That’s enough, Giardini said, to make the Lorain house Biber’s primary residence.

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

ELYRIA — The man allegedly punched by an Elyria police officer earlier this year while handcuffed to a hospital bed was sentenced Thursday to probation and the six months of jail time he’s already served for the crimes that led up to his arrest.

Johnny Smith Jr. appears Thursday in court, where he was sentenced to probation. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

Johnny Smith Jr., 43, apologized for his actions in court and asked Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery to include alcohol treatment in his sentence for the failure to comply, obstructing official business and DUI charges he pleaded guilty to in April.

“I realize I put a lot of innocent lives in jeopardy by being drunk that night,” Smith said.

According to Elyria police, a highly intoxicated Smith had to be pulled from the cab of the semi truck he was driving on Jan. 27 after he nearly ran down an officer trying to stop the truck, which was suspected of being involved in a theft from the Apples grocery store on Cleveland Street.

Another man, Jeff Marcum, had gone inside the store and wheeled out a cart full of steaks and beer that he loaded into the semi cab. Smith drove off, and police tracked the truck to a nearby parking lot where officers first tried to stop it.

Smith has said he never saw Officer James Rider, whom police said he nearly struck with the semi. Police surrounded the truck on Cleveland Street and ordered the two men to get out. Marcum fell down while getting out of the truck, but according to police, Smith refused to get out and locked his arms around the steering wheel.

Officers forced a struggling Smith out of the vehicle and continued to wrestle with him until he was under control, according to police reports and witness statements. Smith contends he cooperated with police and officers attacked him without provocation.

Those allegations, including that Rider struck him twice in the head with a flashlight and that officers held him down and beat him, were determined to be unfounded by an internal police investigation and Special Prosecutor John Reulbach Jr., who conducted his own review.

Smith was injured during the scuffle and taken to EMH Medical Center in Elyria, where he was handcuffed to a hospital bed while being treated.

Medical staff on duty told police that Smith, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.355, was cooperative with them, but the officers who brought Smith in and Smith himself were hostile to each other.

Things grew even more hostile when Smith made a comment about how he wished other officers had been gunned down on March 15, 2010, when Elyria police Officer James Kerstetter was shot and killed by Ronald Palmer while responding to a call on 18th Street.

Officers Jay Loesch and Donald Moss shot and killed Palmer when he refused orders to surrender.

Loesch was among the officers at the hospital who heard Smith’s comment, and he and Officer Richard Walker shut the door of Smith’s hospital room. According to a nurse who witnessed what happened next on a monitor connected to a video camera in the room, Loesch struck Smith once in the face.

Walker later described the blow as something that wouldn’t have hurt his 10-year-old, but Smith has said the punch nearly knocked him unconscious.

Smith later apologized for the comment, while Loesch was given a 10-day suspension after an internal investigation was complete. Five days of the suspension won’t be have to be served as long as Loesch doesn’t get into any more trouble for the next year.

Smith and his lawyer, Joseph Triscaro, asked for a criminal investigation into the incident at the hospital and Reulbach, the Avon Lake prosecutor, was brought in to handle the case.

Loesch, who remains an Elyria police officer, was ultimately charged with misdemeanor assault. He has pleaded not guilty, and a visiting judge has been brought in to handle the case in Elyria Municipal Court.

Smith and Triscaro also had discussed suing the city over the incident, but Triscaro declined to comment on any civil action following Thursday’s hearing. Elyria Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling did not return calls seeking comment.

In a separate hearing in Elyria Municipal Court on Thursday, Marcum pleaded no contest to theft.

He was sentenced to pay a $50 fine and will have to pick up litter as part of community service, attorney Michael Stepanik said.

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

CLEVELAND — It wasn’t the blockbuster move most fans were hoping for, but the Indians did make a trade Thursday, acquiring one-time big-name outfielder Kosuke Fukudome from the Cubs for minor leaguers Abner Abreu and Carlton Smith.

In need of offensive assistance, the Indians think they got that and more from Fukudome, a three-year veteran, who hit .273 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 87 games for Chicago this season.

“Generally speaking, we feel we are a better team today than we were yesterday,” said Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti of the addition of Fukudome, a native of Osaki, Japan, who ranked 14th in the National League through Wednesday with a .374 on-base percentage. “We feel he can help us both offensively and defensively. Ultimately, our goal is improve our run production and run prevention. I think Kosuke can help us in both areas.”

With Shin-Shoo Choo on the disabled list with a broken left thumb, Fukudome is expected to play right field on a regular basis, a spot previously occupied by Austin Kearns and Travis Buck. Buck was designated for assignment Thursday to clear room for Fukudome on the big league and 40-man roster. Fukudome was expected to arrive in Cleveland late Thursday, starting in right tonight for the series opener with Kansas City.

Fukudome has played mostly right field this year for the Cubs but did play center field in over 100 games in 2009. Either he or left fielder Michael Brantley will play center should Grady Sizemore fail to make it back from another knee injury.

“If we are still in contention when Grady and Choo come back, we’ll examine that,” Antonetti said.

Fukudome, 34, was a star in Japan before coming to the states in 2008 as a highly-touted player and signing a four-year contract with the Cubs worth $48 million. It hasn’t panned out for Fukudome, who entered the season a career .262 hitter and hasn’t hit more than 13 homers or driven in more than 58 RBIs in any of his three previous years in Chicago.

The Indians were listed as one of the teams in Fukudome’s no-trade clause but he agreed to waive it, with the Cubs responsible for the majority of what remains on his $13.5 salary for this season. He becomes a free agent at the end of the year, with the Indians able to offer him salary arbitration. If Fukudome declines, Cleveland will receive a draft pick as compensation under the current collective bargaining agreement.

“I think in the end, Kosuke looked at this as an opportunity to come to a club that was competing, and the opportunity to get regular at-bats,” Antonetti said.

Responsible for only $775,000 of Fukudome’s contract, the Indians essentially acquired him for a pair of prospects, but none from the coveted list that includes first-round draft choices Drew Pomeranz (LHP), Alex White (RHP), Lonnie Chisenhall (3B) and second-round pick Jason Kipnis (2B).

Still, Antonetti said Smith, 25, was close to pitching on the big league level, the right-handed reliever going 2-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 34 games for Triple-A Columbus this year.

Abreu, 22, was batting .244 with 12 homers and 35 RBIs in 91 games for High-A Kinston, Antonetti calling the non-drafted free-agent acquisition in 2006, a talented outfielder.

“We understand that we’re going to have to give up good players to improve the major league team,” Antonetti said. “We felt this was a reasonable cost.”

Fukudome’s addition will not appease fans, nor manager Manny Acta, who want to see the Indians bring aboard a player with the ability to hit in the middle of the order. Antonetti said Fukudome’s acquisition will not prohibit the club from doing so, as Sunday’s trading deadline approaches.

“We’re continuing to look at every opportunity to improve the team,” Antonetti said. “This isn’t going to limit us in the opportunities that we are going to continue to explore. We are going to look at anyway possible to improve the team.”

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

In need of offensive assistance, the Indians acquired Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome on Thursday in a trade for minor league outfielder Abner Abreu and pitcher Carlton Smith.

Fukdome, who is batting .273 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 87 games for Chicago, is expected to fill in for an injured Shin-Soo Choo in right field.

Cleveland, which has lost six of its last seven games and trails the first-place Tigers by two games in the Central Division, has struggled offensively for much of the year and mightily as of late. The Indians, who were no-hit by the Angels Ervin Santana on Wednesday, have scored seven runs over the past seven games.

To clear room for Fukodome on the big league and 40-man roster, the Indians designated outfielder Travis Buck for assignment.