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<img src=http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/gif/weblink_icon.gif><b><font color=red> Read</b></font>: <a href="/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090808/NEWS16/908080391" target="_blank"><b>Toledo hall's closure crashes couple's reception plans</a></b>

Candice Glenn shelled out $2,500 for a wedding reception that was supposed to take place in one Toledo location Saturday- until the banquet hall bailed on her. "It's a total and complete nightmare," said Ms. Glenn, who is getting married Saturday. "Tuesday morning, we get the phone call that all of a sudden assets had been frozen, and you're giving me four days to come up with something that's been planned since October of last year."

A 22-year-old Toledo man was killed in a crash late Friday after losing control of his vehicle on southbound I-475 in Springfield Township, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. Jason K. Kroetz was pronounced dead at the scene of the 10:08 p.m. crash that occurred north of milepost 10. His passenger, Joshua E. Kroetz-Nevel, 20, of Toledo, was taken to Toledo Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the Toledo post said.

Dr. Richard Veler's very first donation to Ohio State University's College of Dentistry came more than 60 years ago in the small sum of $10. But college leaders announced Friday that their largest, single gift in history - $3 million - was given by the estate of the late Dr. Veler, a retired Toledo dentist.

Officials at the YMCA & JCC of Greater Toledo say they are closing the South Toledo Y branch because of financial problems, yet a Blade investigation raises new questions about the severity of money troubles at the agency. A financial review of YMCA records that are public, and information gained through interviews, show the more than 100-year-old nonprofit Christian organization is paying Robert E. Alexander, its president and chief executive officer, and several members of his immediate family more than $630,000 a year.

News coverage of the closing of the South Toledo YMCA and the opposition that has sprung up to fight that decision has unnerved Robert E. Alexander, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA & JCC of Greater Toledo. Over the past two weeks Mr. Alexander has railed at reporters, criticizing them for interviewing Y members, blasting them for calling him at home, and demanding one reporter's cell phone number so he could "bother him at home." Mr. Alexander came to The Blade the day one of the stories listed his 2007 salary of $265,411, threatening, "If it's a war you want, it's a war we'll bring you."

"If you build it, they will come," whispers a ghostlike voice in a popular 1980s film. Five years ago, Toledo-area developer Larry Dillin built his dream - Levis Commons - on a vacant field in Perrysburg, and "they" indeed have come. Not just customers and tenants eager to live, eat, work, shop, and play in Mr. Dillin's villagelike combo of retail, housing, and entertainment off State Rt. 25.

The estimated loss from a daylong fire at a scrap-processing facility approaches $2 million, including $1.3 million to conveyors and equipment that grind up junked vehicles, Toledo fire Battalion Chief Jerry Abair said. The fire at OmniSource, 5130 North Detroit Ave., was reported about 7:45 a.m. Saturday, and smoke could be seen for miles. Fire crews returned to service about 6:30 p.m.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner fired a salvo of barbs Saturday at Toledo City Council, blasting members in a letter for spending hours on parking problems and "attempting to impress the voters" by reviewing a so-called "groceries for garbage" program instead of dealing with the city's $8.9 million deficit. "During the last week, Council members have spent hours in discussions about Toledo citizens' rights to park in their front and side yards, and sparse minutes discussing the fact that the Toledo City budget is presently $8.9 million in red ink," Mr. Finkbeiner stated in the opening of his letter to the 12 councilmen.