11/19/18 – 7:48 A.M.
A Food Network show will feature a Findlay native tonight. 1991 Findlay High School graduate Dave Okapal will compete with other chefs on the Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge.” The competitive baking show offers a $10,000 top prize.
Okapal is Temple University’s official pastry chef.
“Christmas Cookie Challenge” airs at 10 p.m. tonight on the Food Network.
11/19/18 – 7:39 A.M.
Bus drivers for Findlay City schools are getting a 1 percent pay raise starting in 2019. The school board approved a two-year deal with the bus drivers’ union during a Friday meeting.
The agreement starts on January 1. It also includes a one-time $400 payment. Treasurer Mike Barnhart says the district will pay that in May of 2020.
11/19/18 – 7:30 A.M.
A railroad crossing remains closed in Putnam County for the first part of this week. ODOT says crews closed the crossing on State Route 65 between Road 8-H and Road 7-D on November 15th. They expect the closure to last through the 22nd.
11/19/18 – 7:23 A.M.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office is looking into reports that people are shooting out security lights in the Liberty Township area. A post on the office’s Facebook page says they have concerns about a stray bullet hitting someone.
Liberty Township is in northern Putnam County, west of Leipsic.
You should contact the sheriff’s office if you have information about the incidents.
11/19/18 – 6:59 A.M.
A two-car crash injured two people on Tiffin Avenue in Findlay Saturday afternoon. The Findlay Police Department says 49-year-old Marsha Sheridan of Findlay was driving east in the 2200 block of Tiffin just after 2 p.m. when she turned left and hit a car driven by 25-year-old Brianna Meadows of Tiffin.
Hanco EMS took Sheridan to Blanchard Valley Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Medics treated Meadows at the scene.
Police cited Sheridan for failure to yield the right of way while making a left turn.
11/19/18 – 6:47 A.M.
Authorities are accusing a Canton-area woman of robbing a Findlay bank last year. Felica Smith allegedly robbed the Key Bank location in Findlay on April 3 of 2017. Investigators also say she robbed three other banks in eastern Ohio during a spree that started on Christmas Eve in 2016.
Investigators say Smith showed a teller a knife in each incident. She got away with more than $12,000 in total.
Police in Trumbull County arrested Smith in June of 2017 after employees at a bank there saw a woman come into a First National Bank wearing sunglasses, a hat and a bandana over her face. She fumbled for something in her purse before she left.
MORE: Learn more about the other robberies Smith is accused in here.
11/19/18 – 5:39 A.M.
The passenger in a car that crashed as part of a high-speed chase earlier this month has died. 44-year-old Juan Palacios was in a car driven by 33-year-old Matthew Stuard of Mount Blanchard when Stuard attempted to run from police on November 10. Stuard died at the scene of the crash.
A State Highway Patrol trooper tried to pull Stuard over for speeding on West Main Cross Street. He sped away, eventually hitting two utility poles near the intersection of Blanchard and Fremont avenues. The crash caused the car to catch fire.
MORE: The Courier
11/19/18 – 5:31 A.M.
A Fostoria man is questioning why the Diocese of Toledo has dismissed his sexual abuse allegations against a former St. Wendelin priest. The Toledo Blade reported Sunday that 51-year-old Riley Kinn made the report to the diocese last year. He claims that Reverend Joseph Schmelzer gave him beer when he was in the 8th grade. Kinn tells the Blade his memory goes blank from there but that he woke up in the priest’s bedroom with injuries and other evidence of sexual assault.
Kinn tells the newspaper he believes Schmelzer drugged him in addition to the beer he gave him.
The Blade reports the diocese found Kinn’s claims were not substantiated in December of 2017. The diocese reassigned Schmelzer to the St. Clement Parish in Toledo before Kinn’s senior year. They permanently removed him from public ministry in 2007 following two other previous credible accusations.
MORE: The Blade
11/19/18 – 5:17 A.M.
Fire destroyed one of the oldest homes in Fostoria over the weekend. Jeffery Souder says his dogs woke him and his son up early Sunday morning as flames consumed their home at 207 West Tiffin Street. They were able to get out of the home safely. Souder says his wife and three daughters were having a girls night out and were not home at the time.
Fostoria fire Lt. Cory Gregg says the fire likely started in the attic of the home. The state fire marshal’s office will investigate the cause of the blaze.
Souder says he had bought smoke detectors but hadn’t installed them due to renovations going on in the house. The American Red Cross provided the family with shelter, food, and clothing.
One firefighter went to the hospital for treatment of a rib injury.
MORE: The Courier
11/19/18 – 5:04 A.M.
The Findlay Police Department is investigating an armed robbery from Sunday morning. Investigators say the incident happened at the Great Scot on West Main Cross Street just after 10 a.m.
The suspect bought something and then left the store and stood outside for a short time. He then came back in and showed the cashier a handgun, demanding money from the cash register. The cashier handed over an undetermined amount of cash, and the man ran away to the east.
Police describe the suspect as a white man, wearing a black stocking cap and a black varsity-style jacket with white striping around the wrist and waist areas as well as large white lettering on the back.