Weekend in Review: On the Town, Cousino indicted, man shot and killed

4/26/2010

PHOTO GALLERY: OTT: The arts are alive April 25, 2010

Art is a big part of the community for all to enjoy. The Toledo Museum of Art Ambassador's Membership Tea took place last week in the lobby of The Peristyle. The already lovely setting was enhanced by a scrumptious repast set amid crisp linens, fresh flowers, and shining silver. The museum's chef, Erika Rapp, outdid herself with all kinds of petite sandwiches such as cucumber, a classic for high teas.

There is no one Lucas County government. In reality, county government in Ohio has many chiefs, with their own mandates from the voters or the Ohio Revised Code. “We have a form of government that probably goes back to the original constitution of the state of Ohio,” said Peter Ujvagi, the new Lucas County administrator. It's a system that works when there is a spirit of cooperation among all the elected officials.

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Even before the biggest political scandal ever to hit Cuyahoga County government struck in July, 2008, whispers of reform percolated in northeast Ohio. Clevelanders and their suburban neighbors — similar to Toledoans and residents of other Great Lakes cities mired in unemployment and economic stagnation — were tired of witnessing business as usual among elected leadership while the poor grew poorer and the middle class lost ground.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old suspect in Saturday night's shooting death in central Toledo. Michael Taylor III turned himself in to police at 8:30 Sunday morning and was later booked into the Lucas County Corrections Center on a murder charge. The fatal shooting occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday on the 1300 block of Grand Avenue near Sylvan Avenue.

It's been nearly a year since Michael McCloskey felt the piercing pain of a bullet enter his back during a traffic stop in Ottawa Hills - and he still can't always form his emotions into words. Recently, for the first time since the moment when his life drastically changed, Mr. McCloskey, 25, of Toledo appeared in Lucas County Common Pleas Court and saw the police officer accused of firing the gun.

Toledo restaurateur Tom Cousino - whose family has maintained restaurants in East Toledo since 1946 - was indicted on criminal charges Friday for allegedly failing to pay thousands of dollars in state sales tax brought in through one of his businesses. Mr. Cousino, 64, of Perrysburg is one of Toledo highest-profile restaurant owners.

A West Toledo man was killed when his van struck a tree and fence along Eleanor Avenue at Overland Parkway, authorities said. Joshua Sawdy, 30, was pronounced dead at Toledo Hospital, police said.

Residents of a North Toledo neighborhood near Woodward High School are accustomed to seeing the occasional fist fight and band of rowdy teenagers. But the sheer size and spectacle of a Thursday night brawl, said by witnesses to have involved dozens of youths, some wielding sticks and baseball bats, has raised fears and prompted comparisons to the infamous 2005 riots sparked by a planned neo-Nazi rally.

PHOTO GALLERY: OTT: The arts are alive April 25, 2010

PHOTO GALLERY: Main Library swings with sounds of jazz