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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With the plea withdrawn, the state of Ohio slapped Harrison with a 23-count indictment which he was ultimately found guilty of and sentenced to six years in prison.
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Wapak ACME pounds Rangers |
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Wednesday, 02 July 2008 |
BY PHIL McLEAN
Staff Writer
MINSTER — Wapakoneta started slow, but picked up speed and pounded out a 6-0 victory over New Knoxville in the opening round of the ACME sectional tournament to advance in the winner’s bracket.
“It was an excellent job tonight,” said VFW ACME coach WIllie Sammetinger. “Timely hitting, a couple of real nice defensive plays and Josh Vorhees threw a gem.
Vorhees, the complete game winner, struck out 12, allowed three hits and walked only one, in winning his third game in four decisions.
Despite having a base runner on in the second, third and fourth innings, New Knoxville really only threatened once.
With one out in the sixth inning, Cody Horstman singled. A throwing error allowed Jake Lawler to reach first and enabled Horstman to go to third. But Vohees got Caleb Allen to hit an infield fly to Shane Helmstetter at second and Kyle Merges hit a ball back to the mound for a routine out to end the inning.
Vorhees retired the side in order in the seventh to gain the shutout.
“We couldn’t get anything started tonight,” Ranger coach Clark Froning said. “Your pitcher did a great job.”
Meanwhile, Vorhees was getting plenty of support from the rest of the Redskins who got nine hits on the night, three of them for extra bases. The Redskins took advantage of three New Knoxville errors in clinching the win.
The Redskins defense played nearly error-free ball, and combined with Vorhees 12 strikeouts, did such a good job in the field that first baseman Justin Krebs was heard to complain that he only had four putouts. One of them was an unassisted putout when Addison Wolf hit a groundball down the first base line.
Vorhees also helped on defense when Bryan Baumbauer hit a line drive back to the mound. Vorhees calmly turned an threw to first, retiring Cale Spieles for the double play.
Shane Helmstetter put the first run on the scoreboard in the third inning. Helmstetter, who was 2-for-4 at the plate, singled up the middle. He went to third on a Ranger fielding error and scored on what turned out to be the winning RBI, a single by Matt Deffenbaugh.
That would be all the runs Wapakoneta would need, but the Redskins added insurance runs in the fourth and sixth innings.
Greg Stoll opened the fourth with a double to left field. Chad Downing singled putting runners at the corners, while Helmstetter and Mickie Grothaus both got RBIs in the inning.
The Redskins took no chances with a three run lead and added three more markers in the sixth inning.
Mike Rosenbeck got things started, drawing a lead off base on balls. Then, with two outs, Kaleb Coil got an RBI single. Grothaus followed with a single and Mike Bogan belted a two run double.
“We’ve got a good team,” Froning said. “We’ve got some talent, but we’re pretty young and we wilt a little bit under pressure. We just put to many base runners on and gave Wapakoneta too many outs.”
The loss drops New Knoxville to 6-8 and moves them into the losers bracket of the double elimination tournament.
Wapakoneta will be in action Friday in the tournament and will play the Minster-St. Marys/New Bremen winner.
“Nine out of 10 were on base at least once,” Sammetinger said. “That’s making good use of your lineup.”
In addition to Helmstetter’s two-hit performance, Grothaus also had two hits in the game.
Wapakoneta improves to 13-5 on the season.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 July 2008 )
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