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November 2008 |
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By MATT NICHOLS
Staff Writer
A former Wapakoneta law enforcement officer’s future is now in the hands of seven state Supreme Court justices.
Former Wapakoneta Police Chief Dave Harrison’s 6-year-old sex crime case reached the pinnacle in Ohio’s court system Wednesday, as justices heard arguments from Harrison’s attorney Dean Boland and state prosecutor Scott Longo.
Each party had 15 minutes to present their case to the justices. After both attorneys argued their cases, a single word in Harrison’s sentencing entry and a grilling delivered to Longo by justice Maureen O’Connor left Boland optimistic about his client’s future.
In June, 2003, Harrison plead guilty to a six-count bill of information after child pornography was found on his computer. After entering his plea, the man who served as police chief from 1988 to 2002 was sentenced to one year in jail.
Seven months after he completed his sentence, it was discovered by county prosecutors that Harrison should have been sentenced with an additional five years of mandatory post release control, or probation.
During a court hearing, Harrison was given the option to either be re-sentenced or withdraw his plea. Harrison chose the latter, taking things back to square one.
With the plea withdrawn, the state of Ohio slapped Harrison with a 23-count indictment which he was ultimately found guilty of and sentenced to six years in prison.
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Monday, 16 June 2008 |
Shawnee’s prowling black, panther-like cats remain a mystery
By MATT NICHOLS
Staff Writer
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — While the reports of mysterious large black cats in Shawnee have waned the last several days, the mystery of what they are is yet to be officially solved.
In late May, reports began to trickle in to the Shawnee Township Police Department of at least one large black cat roaming the area.
One Shawnee resident said he saw two large cats, both tipping the scales at more than 70 pounds a piece, he estimated.
Jim Richardson said he first saw a 100-pound black cat carrying his neighbor Gary Guagenti’s barn cat in its mouth. Approximatley a week later, he saw a smaller cat near a woods that he estimated to weigh more than 70 pounds.
A rash of reports followed, with some residents reporting the animals in their backyards, others reporting the cats chasing deer.
Those who saw the animal could only equate it to a black panther. One report came as far south as Wapak Fisher Road.
On June 6, WLIO-TV
aired a home video shot by Shawnee resident Brent Dawson of a large black cat in his yard. Dawson said the cat he taped was a Maine Coon Cat, and that there was more than one in the area. He said he had been viewing the cats since 2005, and they posed no harm to him in that time.
But Maine Coon Cats are approximately 3-feet long and weigh 25 pounds maximum — still 75 pounds shy of the 100-pounder Richardson said he viewed.
“They may have those (coon cats) out there, but that’s not what I saw,” Richardson said.
Richardson still contends the two cats he saw weighed approximately 70 and 110 pounds.
He said the hair and head on the cat Dawson taped is nothing like the animal he saw carrying a grown barn cat.
“From what I’ve looked up, the cat I saw had the face of a lynx,” Richardson said. “Those coon cats almost look like a large Persian cat with long hair.”
He still researches his sighting on the Internet, hoping to find an answer.
Guagenti said he “doesn’t totally agree” it was a coon cat he saw May 22, but said as long as it keeps its distance, he is willing to co-exist with it.
“I don’t care what they call them, I just don’t want them around,” Guagenti said. “But if they won’t harm us, we won’t harm them.”
Since Dawson’s tape hit the air, Richardson said he has been given a hard time from his friends, but Richardson stands by what he saw no more than a few yards in front of him.
“I’m telling you, there’s something else out there,” Richardson said. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 16 June 2008 )
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