Five Things You Might Have Missed: 3-10

Top articles from this weekend's editions of The Blade

3/10/2014
BLADE STAFF
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    Tony Grotrian often attends drug-related cases at the Hancock County Courthouse. Mr. Grotrian has been fighting for community awareness of the drug problem and solutions to combat drugs since his grandson died in 2009 of a heroin overdose.

    THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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    • Tony Grotrian often attends drug-related cases at the Hancock County Courthouse. Mr. Grotrian has been fighting for community awareness of the drug problem and solutions to combat drugs since his grandson died in 2009 of a heroin overdose.
    Tony Grotrian often attends drug-related cases at the Hancock County Courthouse. Mr. Grotrian has been fighting for community awareness of the drug problem and solutions to combat drugs since his grandson died in 2009 of a heroin overdose.

    1. Findlay grandfather turns grief of grandson's death into anti-drug crusade

    Tony Grotrian wore all black — a two-button black leather blazer over a black collared shirt, black pants, black shoes.

    His silver hair swept back from his broad forehead. He fiddled with a coffee cup as he spoke; the words came deliberately, directly.

    His grandson Aaron Grotrian, 20, is buried in a cemetery outside of Findlay. A glossy black stone marks the grave.

    It’s been years since that day — Aug. 28, 2009, — when he lost his grandson to a heroin overdose. He’s spent that time working to prevent drug deaths and warn people that drugs are in Hancock County and everywhere across the state. READ MORE

     

    Plans are in the works to build a Costco store at State Rt. 25 and Eckel Junction Road in Perrysburg. City Council and the planning commission have votes set.
    Plans are in the works to build a Costco store at State Rt. 25 and Eckel Junction Road in Perrysburg. City Council and the planning commission have votes set.

    2. Big Costco decision near for Perrysburg 

    Traffic congestion, property values, and city code requirements are among the issues facing Perrysburg officials this month as they weigh whether to approve a proposed Costco store, the biggest retail project in the city in a decade.

    A public hearing is set for 6 p.m. Thursday on the proposed 154,300-square-foot store near the southeast corner of State Rt. 25 and Eckel Junction Road.

    City Council is expected to act March 25 on a special-use permit and the city planning commission is scheduled to vote on March 27 on a final site plan. READ MORE

     

    Uwe Eickert founded Academy Games in 2008. The company has published eight board games and plans to release five more.
    Uwe Eickert founded Academy Games in 2008. The company has published eight board games and plans to release five more.

    3. History, strategy more than just a game for local developer

    Uwe Eickert loves to play games, but you won’t catch him playing cards or a simple board game like Monopoly.

    When leisure time arrives, his playground is the past.

    Mr. Eickert, 50, an engineer by training and entrepreneur by trade, is the owner and founder of Academy Games, a tiny Sandusky County start-up that specializes in complex, critical-thinking strategic games for uber-game players, classrooms, and even members of the military.

    Mr. Eickert’s historical games — the company has published eight of them, which cost $70-$80 and is about to release five more — are designed to foster decision-making, the art of working with others, and dealing with the consequences. READ MORE

     

    The Key Largo, Fla., home of Tom Noe’s ex-wife, Bernadette Restivo, is threatened by a $1.9 million legal bill from the imprisoned Noe’s former defense team.
    The Key Largo, Fla., home of Tom Noe’s ex-wife, Bernadette Restivo, is threatened by a $1.9 million legal bill from the imprisoned Noe’s former defense team.

    4. Tom Noe’s ex-wife sues to save Florida home

    Bernadette Restivo, the ex-wife of convicted thief Tom Noe, disclosed an adulterous affair her husband had sometime in the early 2000s as part of a new complaint filed in a Florida courthouse Friday to protect her Key Largo home from being liquidated to pay a $1.8-million bill claimed by his former Columbus defense team.

    A July, 2009, affidavit by her former husband while in prison makes the claim that he had an affair during their marriage but his lawyers talked him into concealing it from Ms. Restivo in order to get her to put up her house for Noe’s legal bills, the complaint alleges.

    Ms. Restivo told The Blade by phone Friday that Noe admitted to her in May, 2005, when the criminal allegations broke, that he had a one-night stand — something she had already suspected. READ MORE

     

    Starlite Plaza on Monroe Street.
    Starlite Plaza on Monroe Street.

    5. ProMedica trades property in Starlite Plaza for land it leases

    ProMedica, which in June purchased the Starlite Plaza on Monroe Street for $7 million, has swapped a small parcel on the 11-acre shopping center property in Sylvania, for a piece of land near its ProMedica Toledo Hospital complex in Toledo.

    On Feb. 28 ProMedica “sold” a 0.6-acre property at the shopping plaza, at 5700 Monroe, to Joseph Starlite Plaza LLC. READ MORE