Judge denies request to stop demolition of courthouse in Tiffin

8/28/2007

(Posted at 10:28 a.m.) Six Seneca County residents plea for an injunction to stop demolition of the 1884 courthouse was denied this morning by retired Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Charles Wittenberg. In a six-page opinion, Judge Wittenberg said the plaintiffs had not shown that they would likely be able to prove the county commissioners had violated Ohio's public meetings law prior to deciding to tear down the shuttered courthouse.

(Posted at 2:51 p.m.) PORT CLINTON A high-ranking city employee who recently resigned from his post over the sale of city-owned scrap metal was indicted this morning in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court on two counts of felony theft. Richard J. Babcock, 56, the city s former safety-service director, was indicted on one count of theft and one count of theft while in office.

(Posted at 12:06 p.m.) Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega can be extradited to France once he completes his U.S. prison sentence for a 1992 drug trafficking conviction, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Noriega, 73, is due to be released from a Florida prison on Sept. 9. He wanted U.S. officials to send him back to his home country, but France wants him to face charges of laundering more than $3 million in drug profits through French banks and purchases that included luxurious apartments in Paris.

(Posted at 8:28 a.m.) Four Toledo firefighters were injured this morning during a two alarm fire in the city s Old South End, authorities said. They were taken to the Toledo Hospital and their injuries are believed to be minor, authorities said. The blaze began about 1:20 a.m. at 719 South Erie St. and spread to neighboring houses.

(Posted at 9:07 a.m.) Two men were seriously injured in an accident last night when the vehicle they were in went off the roadway, struck a guardrail, and then was hit by an oncoming car, authorities said. Joel M. King, 31, 1729 Lockwood Rd. in Port Clinton, who was driving eastbound on State Street in Portage Township about 10:24 p.m. yesterday, was attempting to drive left around a curve when he drove off the right side of the road and then over corrected back onto State Street, troopers at the Ohio Highway Patrol s Sandusky Post said.