Weekend in review: Best stories, multimedia

12/29/2008

Extremely icy roads brought traffic in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan to a near standstill yesterday morning and may have played a role in at least one death. "It's sheer ice from Toledo to Bowling Green," Brian Gettinger, a dispatcher at the Ohio Highway Patrol's Toledo post, said during the height of the region's latest batch of freezing rain, which coated previous snow and ice on sidewalks, driveways, and side streets with a fresh, slippery glaze.

The home of an electrical supply business that had been a mainstay of downtown Toledo's business community for nearly 90 years will be auctioned next month. The former H. Poll Electric Co. at 8 North St. Clair St. ceased operation in July after 89 years in business as a wholesale distributor of electrical products and automation components. The building, contents, and an adjoining lot are scheduled to be auctioned at 10 a.m. Jan. 12. The company's other locations in Findlay and Defiance will be auctioned Jan. 13 and 15, respectively, at the order of the company's secured creditor, auctioneer Wayne Wilson said.

T.J. Fatinikun still intends to play football for a Mid-American Conference program located in northwest Ohio. But it won't be Bowling Green State University. Fatinikun, a senior defensive end at Perrysburg, has rescinded his verbal commitment to BG and will instead play for its rival, the University of Toledo. Fatinikun came to his decision on Christmas Day and is either a great gift giver or a grinch depending which side of the I-75 rivalry one supports. "It was not an easy decision," Fatinikun said. "It was not easy to tell BG. It just came down to what was best for me and my family and my future."

Eighty-two nonunion city of Toledo workers spent their day after Christmas on an additional holiday from work - albeit unpaid - as the budget-crunched city enacted its second mandatory furlough of the year to save money. Friday's furlough applied only to nonunion workers per an arbitrator's decision this week that blocked Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's earlier effort to furlough all nonessential employees for three days this year: Nov. 26, Dec. 26, and Dec. 31.

A 15 year-old was fatally shot early Sunday morning in North Toledo. The youth, identified by police as Antonyo Phillips, was found by police shortly after 2 a.m. in a house along the 3100 block of Cottage Avenue. He was taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m., police said.